Darul Aman Palace

Darul Aman Palace (Persian: قصر دارالامان‎; Pashto: د دارالامان ماڼۍ‎; "abode of peace" or, in a double meaning "abode of Aman[ullah]") is a ruined palace located about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south-west outside of the center of Kabul, Afghanistan. It sits directly across from the Afghan Parliament, and is in close proximity to the National Museum of Afghanistan and the American University of Afghanistan.

As of 2017, progress is being made on a major project intended to fully renovate the building by the end of 2019.

History

Construction of the Darul Aman Palace began in the early 1920s as a part of the endeavours of King Amanullah Khan to modernize Afghanistan. It was to be part of the new capital city called Darulaman, connected to Kabul by a narrow gauge railway. The palace is considered to be a testimony of Afghanistan-Germany friendship, as it was designed by German engineer Walter Harten and his team of engineers.

The palace is an imposing neoclassical building on a hilltop overlooking a flat, dusty valley in the western part of the Afghan capital. Designed by French and German architects, it was one of the first buildings in the country to get central heating and running water. Intended as the seat of a future parliament, the building remained unused and partially complete for many years after religious conservatives under Habibullah Kalakani forced Amanullah from power in 1929, and halted his reforms. In later years it served as the medical school for Kabul University, as well a warehouse, and the seat of several smaller ministries.

The building was gutted by fire on December 14, 1968, and afterwards restored to house the Ministry of Defense during the 1970s and 1980s. In the Communist coup of 1978, the building was once more set on fire. Much of the building was damaged by tank fire during Shahnawaz Tanai's failed coup attempt on March 6, 1990. It was once again damaged in the 1990s as rival Mujahideen factions fought for control of Kabul. Heavy shelling by the Mujahideen left the palace a gutted ruin, including the garage containing the vehicles of the former king which were removed and used as target practice, all ultimately being destroyed. It was mostly used as a refugee settlement and a nomad camp until the early 2000s, when it became a battalion headquarters for the Afghan National Army.

In 2005, a plan was unveiled to refurbish the palace for use as the seat of Afghanistan's future parliament. It was to be funded primarily by private donations from foreigners and wealthy Afghans. The palace one of several targets in a series of attacks launched on April 15, 2012, for which the Taliban claimed responsibility. Eventually it was decided to develop a new building opposite the palace to house the parliament under a grant, provided by India. Construction was completed in 2015.

In early 2016 work began on a $20 million restoration project, intended to renovate the palace in time for the centenary of Afghanistan’s full independence in 1919. Nearly 600 tons of debris was initially removed from the 150-room building and by the spring of 2017, workers were taking down plaster and concrete from the inner walls. Over 80 engineers and architects are involved in the project, of which 25 percent are female. It was announced in February 2018 that almost 50 percent of the renovation was complete.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Darul Aman Palace" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.