- published: 15 Nov 2015
- views: 198104
Coordinates: 27°41′53.13″N 85°19′21.853″E / 27.6980917°N 85.32273694°E / 27.6980917; 85.32273694
The Singha Durbar (literally, Lion Palace) in Kathmandu is the official seat of government of Nepal.
Originally built by the Rana dynasty and it was known as the largest palace of Nepal. In 1904, claimed to be the biggest and most luxurious palace in Asia and until 1973 was the largest government secretariat in Asia. It was the private residence ot the hereditary Prime Minister of Nepal, now the Singha Durbar now houses both chambers of the Parliament of Nepal (the Pratinidhi Sabha, or House of Representatives, and the Rashtriya Sabha, or House of the States), as well as ministries and government offices.
Singha Durbar is also the headquarter of Radio Nepal and Nepal Television.
As neo-classical architecture typical of the style of the 19th century, Singha Darbar was designed by Kishore Narsingh Rana.
A substantial portion of the Singha Durbar was destroyed by fire in 1973; so much of the damage has since been rebuilt.