Rashtrapati Bhavan Tours and Activities

They say that India is the largest democracy in the world (undoubtedly true). But it also has the largest house of any head of state, slap bang in the centre of New Delhi. And the Presidential Palace (or Rashtrapati Bhavan) is as vast in scope now, as it was in ambition for its British designers. They saw its 340 rooms and 700 million bricks as veritable 'empire in stone', a permanent marker for the British Empire in India, when completed in 1931. Just 18 years later, though, and that empire was to fall, as India became independent.The Presidential Palace occupies a huge tract of land, a couple of kilometres to the west of the India Gate – at the end of the ceremonial route of the Rajpath – with over 150 hectares, including the Mughal Gardens. And while its towering central dome (55-metres high) is visible from much of central New Delhi, getting closer than a few hundred yards requires some planning. All visits must be pre-booked for security reasons. It's a tour well worth planning for, though. Palaces don't get much more monumental than the Rashtrapati Bhavan.The guided tour will no doubt point out the fascinating architectural detail – how the huge central dome successfully blends Indian and neo-classical elements. How the architect, British-born Edwin Lutyens, made skilful use of Indian motifs – like the delicately perforated jaalis slabs, or the small roof-top chhatris domes, or the clever stone-aprons of the chhajjas (which protect the palace's windows from the glaring Indian sun, and lashing monsoon rains). But it's the often-untold stories that stick in the mind. As many as 29,000 workers were needed on-site, over 20 years, to bring Lutyens's fantastic vision into reality. Much of the work on the main building was done by Haroun-al-Rashid, a Muslim contractor, while the forecourt was built by Sikh builders Sujan Singh and Sobha Singh. So while the Presidential Palace may have started out as an exercise in Colonial power, that motive was being undermined with the first bricks laid. During that long construction, the seeds of a future multicultural Indian state were being laid. That, more than its overwhelming size and grandeur, is the thing that Delhites – and Indians – are often most proud of.