Lucknow monument stands on Taj Mahal like foundation

LUCKNOW: A heritage monument in Lucknow, the Chhattar Manzil Palace, has something in common with the Taj Mahal. Ongoing restoration work in the 18th century building has revealed horizontal and vertical wooden beams in the lower basement indicating the use of wooden piles technique.
Archaeologists and conservation architects are aware that the has been used to built the Taj as well."The best quality ebony has been used to built the Taj Mahal," said Navratna Kumar Pathak, officer at Archaeological Survey of India who has served in Agra circle for more than five years. According to experts, wooden piles technique is over 1000 years old and has been used to build bridges and homes in Venice as well.
State culture department and other authorities are oblivious about the fact. Project manager from UP Rajkiye Nirman Nigam for Chhatar Manzil Sandeep Kumar Singh said, "certain wooden planks have surfaced but we are yet to decode their importance."
The message is yet to be communicated officially. "State Archaeology Directorate is yet to receive any information from the agency," an officer said. Insiders revealed that the news of wooden planks inside Chhatar Manzil basement spread like a fire and it compelled certain inquisitive officials to visit the spot.
"These are indigenous sal wood beams and it appears that the building rests on a network of wooden beams like the Taj Mahal," confided one of them adding, "it appears that the vertical beams were also used to measure the water level of the Gomti in case of floods."
Faculty, architectural conservation, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi who is working on several research papers on Chhatar Manzil said that use of wood in construction of the palace was no surprise. "It was customary to use wood in the foundation if a building was being raised on river bank. While the Taj rests on the Yamuna, Chhatar Manzil Palace is along the Gomti," she shared.
Historians in Lucknow who have extensively studied Chhattar Manzil Palace are also excited. Raushan Taqui, who book on architectural importance of Nawabi monuments is in print, said: "As a child, I had learnt that the building rests on a wooden structure. But we never believed in it thinking how can a five floor building rest on wooden planks. As a student and researcher, i tried gathering evidences for the same. Finally, the story is a fact," he shared.
Different authors on Lucknow have noted the story of Chhattar Manzil. One of them, Ravi Bhatt shared that the journey of the palace began with what is known as the Kothi Farhat Baksha - a summer home built by French army officer and architect Claude Martin. Nawab Saadat Ali Khan bought this grand piece of architecture 200 years ago for Rs 50,000 from Claude Martin.
Not meant for public eyes, Saadat Ali Khan commissioned the construction of an extension, which is now Chhattar Manzil. From then, it became the principal residence of the Avadh sovereign. Nawab Saadat Ali Khan died before the completion of the construction of Chhatar Manzil and it was completed by his successor Nawab Ghazi-ud-din Haidar.
After the war of independence in 1857, the British acquired the palace and turned it into the United Services Club — stripping much of its former grandeur. After Independence, it was taken over by the government and on February 17, 1951, then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) here to start the first drug research laboratory in the country.
Now that it has been handed over to the state archaeological department, the doors of Farhat Baksh Kothi and Chhatar Manzil will be opened to public for the first time in history.