Bara Imambara

The Bara Imambara is a large congregational hall in the Husainabad area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, built by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula in 1784. It is part of a complex that also includes the Asafi Mosque, a stepwell known as the Shahi Baoli and the Rumi Darwaza nearby. The main hall is celebrated for its vast central chamber, among the largest arched halls in the world without pillars or beams, covered by a vaulted ceiling made without supporting columns. The structure was commissioned during a famine as a relief project, and stories of its construction are standard features of guided tours. Above the hall lies the Bhul Bhulaiya, a labyrinth of interconnected passages and staircases with hundreds of near-identical doorways, from which the roof can be reached. From the terrace, visitors look out over the Asafi Mosque, the old city and the Gomti River, and the narrow corridors have acoustic features that guides demonstrate. A visit typically takes between one and a half and two hours. Morning is the best time, when the complex opens at 6:00 AM, as the interior is cooler and crowds are lighter, and the sandstone-coloured plaster takes on warm light. The labyrinth is crowded on weekends and school holidays, and visitors can easily become disoriented, so a licensed guide is generally advised to enter it; guides wait near the ticket counter. A combined ticket also covers other monuments in the area. Shoes are removed at religious spaces, and during the month of Muharram the imambara functions as a place of mourning, with altered access. Photographers favour the long arcaded approach, the central hall and the view from the roof.