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Swaraj Bhavan (old Anand Bhavan)
AnandBhavan is a famous building at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh of India, which was owned by Motilal Nehru, now converted into a museum at Allahabad called SwarajBhavan.
This place is the home of Jawaharlal Nehru family, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India and son of Motilal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and his grandson Rajiv Gandhi, all belong to this house, and so this is an important location.
In fact, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru was not born here although he spent lot of his younger days here. Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund at Delhi maintains these premises and manages the museum activities.
History
AnandBhavan bungalow in Allahabad was acquired by Motilal Nehru in 1900 and was developed into a palatial bungalow with furnishings , furniture, cutlery and crockery, all brought from England to which place he had to make frequent visits as a Barrister. He endeavoured to make this place a replica of an English country mansion and kept this house so spacious and warm to accommodate hundred people at a time. AnandBhavan was the name given to this place, because it was considered an abode for happiness.
Before MotilalNehru ownedAnandBhavan, it was belonging to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who was an educationalist and during its house warming ceremony Sir William Moor, an English statesman commented that being a palatial home at Allahabad it would stand as a venue to establish British empire in India. Ironically, Motilal Nehru who was a predominant freedom fighter bought this place having exactly the opposite intention of driving British away from India.
AnandBhavan was visited by large number of Congress leaders of those days, since Motilal Nehru was a predominant member of Indian National Congress party. His son Jawahalal Nehru was also active in freedom struggle and so AnandBhavan was literally the Headquarters of the Indian National Congress Party. Later during 1930s, another smaller bungalow was constructed in the same premises and was named AnandBhavan, while the original AnandBhavan became SwarajBhavan, to mean abode of Independence.
It was in 1970 that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who donated this house for the public cause and converted it to a museum in memory of her father, and also Grand Father, making it a museum of high order and prestige.
Museum Activities
Apart from being a repository of many items of memory of Nehru family, it also serves as a venue for teaching arts and crafts to people, while a light and sound show is being conducted every day for the visitors.
How to Reach
Allahabad is reachable by rail, road and air comfortably. It is located in the National Highway No 2, at 633 km distance from Delhi and 800 km from Kolkata, UPSRTC buses plying from all the destinations in the State and also from the nearby States.
Allahabad Railway Junction is a major railway station having direct trains from all the important destinations of the country, particularly Rajdhani Express from Delhi and Kolkata with similar fast moving trains from Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, besides other cities of India.
The domestic airport at Allahabad is Bamrauli airport, which has flight schedules to major airports of the country.
Timings and Ticket Prices
The light and sound shows are conducted every day four times and the museum is open to public on all days except Mondays and Public Holidays.
The visit hours for the museum are from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm, with an interval time between 1 pm and 2 pm.
The entry fee for the museum is Rs 2 and the admission fee for the light and sound show is Rs 5 per person.
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