Anand Bhavan

Formerly known as Swaraj Bhavan, Anand Bhavan happened to be the ancestral mansion of the Nehru family. One of the most important and oldest families in Indian politics, the Nehrus had lived here since 1930 when it was built under the personal care of the family patriarch Motilal Nehru. His son Jawaharlal Nehru went on to become the first Prime Minister of independent India in 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru himself lived in this sprawling mansion. His daughter Indira Gandhi, who also become India’s Prime Minister in later years, spent her early years here. So it goes without saying that this house holds a special place in modern Indian political milieu. Anand Bhavan is wonderfully decorated with the wooden furniture imported from China and Europe and was decorated with various artefacts from all around the world. In 1970, Indira Gandhi donated this mansion to the Government of India and now is turned into a museum that depicts the life and times of the Nehru family down the years. The exhibits inside the museum highlight the events, which describes the participation of the prestigious family in India’s struggle for independence. Apart from these, the museum has a room entirely dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, often referred to as the Father of the nation. The influential figure of India’s freedom movement used to stay in this very room whenever he visited Allahabad.