Government Building sights in Asia
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Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus)
Imposing, exuberant and overflowing with people, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus) is the city's most extravagant Gothic building, the beating heart of its railway network, and an aphorism for colonial India. Historian Christopher London uttered 'the Victoria Terminus is to the British Raj, what the Taj Mahal is to the Mughal Empire.'
It's a meringue of Victorian, Hindu and Islamic styles whipped into an imposing, Daliesque structure of buttresses, domes, turrets, spires and stained-glass windows. Be sure to get close to the jungle-themed façade, particularly around the reservation office: it's adorned with peacocks, gargoyles, cheeky monkeys and lions.…
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National Assembly building
In 1963 the Pakistanis commissioned Louis Kahn, a world-renowned American architect, to design a regional capital for East Pakistan. Due to the liberation movement and ensuing war, the National Assembly building wasn't completed until 1982. The building often features in books on modern architecture, and is regarded as among Kahn's finest works.
It's a huge assembly of concrete cylinders and rectangular boxes, sliced open with bold, multi-storey circular and triangular apertures instead of windows, and is probably only considered attractive by fans of grim '70's architecture. It is not usually possible to approach the building too closely. On the opposite side of the road…
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Frere Hall
Many of the city's most architecturally interesting British Raj buildings are now used as government offices. They include Frere Hall.
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Trashi Chhoe Dzong
This large dzong, north of the city on the west bank of the Wang Chhu, manages not to impose on the valley or the city as a dominating, impenetrable fortress; rather, its splendid proportions and modest setting bestow a subtle, monastic magnificence.
The whitewashed outer structure is two storeys high with three-storey towers at the four corners projecting out over the walls and capped by red-and-gold, triple-tiered roofs. The outer walls are built of trimmed, neatly fitted granite blocks, unlike other dzongs, which were made of roughly dressed stones. Similarly, the dochey (courtyard) is paved with rectangular stone slabs. The dzong housed the original National Assembly …
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National Diet Building
Built on a site once inhabited by feudal lords, the National Diet was completed in 1936 with its landmark pyramid-shaped dome. The chambers – the Shūgi-in or House of Representatives (the Upper House) and the Sangi-in or House of Councillors (the Lower House) – have witnessed fist fights and wrestling matches over the occasional hot-button issue. Recently things have been a bit more sedate. Free 60-minute tours of the Sangi-in are available when the Diet is not in session (ring the day before to confirm); they take in the public gallery, the emperor’s room (from where he addresses the Diet at the start of each session) and central hall (featuring a floor mosaic of a …
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Central District Police Station
For years a rather dismal air of abandonment has hung over this declared but boarded-up monument, which is a former police station and jail. By the time you read this, it’s just possible that plans to repurpose and revamp the building as an art gallery, cinema, museum and boutique shopping mall will be taking physical shape. Defenders of Hong Kong’s heritage buildings are hopeful the redevelopment plans, due for completion in 2012, will ensure the site avoids the fate of many other such sites – too often they are bulldozed to make space for a modern high-rise or suffer heavily commercialised reinterpretations, such as that visited on the handsome former Marine Police HQ i…
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SAARC Building
The large traditional Bhutanese-style building across the river from Trashi Chhoe Dzong was built in the early 1990s to provide a venue for a meeting of the heads of state and government from the South Asia Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC). That meeting was never held in Bhutan but plans are in the pipeline now that Bhutan boasts several hotels that meet the five-star needs of the SAARC officials.
The impressive structure now houses the planning and foreign ministries, and the National Assembly was relocated to this building in 1993. Long 'corridors of power' lead to the elaborately decorated National Assembly (held twice a year), while nearby is the Royal Ba…
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High Court
A hive of daily activity, packed with judges, barristers and other cogs in the Indian justice system, the High Court is an elegant 1848 neo-Gothic building. The design was inspired by a German castle and was obviously intended to dispel any doubts about the authority of the justice dispensed inside, though local stone carvers presumably saw things differently: they carved a one-eyed monkey fiddling with the scales of justice on one pillar. You are permitted (and it is highly recommended) to walk around inside the building and check out the pandemonium and pageantry of public cases that are in progress.
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City Palace
Below the fort sprawls the colourful and convoluted City Palace , or Vinay Vilas Mahal, with massive gates and a tank reflecting a symmetrical series of ghats and pavilions. Today most of the complex is occupied by government offices, overflowing with piles of dusty papers and soiled by pigeons and splatters of paan (a mixture of betel nut and leaves for chewing).
The curious can peer through the offices at the once splendid rooms and marvel at their neglect. Just outside the palace you will find clerks busily clacking away on typewriters for their lawyer bosses (who have outdoor 'offices' here).
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Legislative Council Building
The colonnaded and domed building on the east side of Statue Square was once the old Supreme Court. Built in 1912 of granite quarried on Stonecutters Island, it has served as the seat of the Legislative Council (LegCo) since 1985. Standing atop the pediment is a blindfolded statue of Themis, the Greek goddess of justice and natural law. During WWII it was a headquarters of the Gendarmerie, the Japanese version of the Gestapo, and many people were executed here. The only time you’ll see much going on is during periodic protests (invariably well ordered and controlled) when the council is sitting.
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British Consulate Building
Just to the southeast of Zhongshan Park as Wenming Lu intersects with Beijing Lu, stands the former British Consulate Building , within the grounds of the No 1 Middle School (一中; Yīzhōng). Dating from 1885, the imposing building is a lovely two-storey cream-coloured edifice with verandahs and shutters, flanked by palm trees. A further traditional building can be seen just to the rear, next to the newly built white-tile church.
Bus 2 from the train station stops right outside. Nearby Zhongshan Park is a pleasantly green park with several amusement rides for children.
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Presidential Receiving Room
The ground-floor room with the boat-shaped table was often used for conferences. Upstairs in the Presidential Receiving Room - the one with the red chairs in it - the South Vietnamese president received foreign delegations. He sat behind the desk; the chairs with dragons carved into the arms were used by his assistants. The chair facing the desk was reserved for foreign ambassadors. The room with gold-coloured chairs and curtains was used by the vice president.
You can sit in the former president's chair and have your photo taken.
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Syngman Rhee Memorial Hall
This small private museum has lots of English descriptions and is dedicated to South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee (1875-1965). Jailed by King Gojong for his political activities, later he became an independence leader and the Japanese colonial government put a price of around ₩300,000 on his head. He was South Korea's president during the Korean War and up to 1960 when he fled with his Austrian wife to Hawaii after widespread public demonstrations against his rule.
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Karachi Metropolitan Development Corporation Building
Many of the city's most architecturally interesting British Raj buildings are now used as government offices and aren't so easily accessible for sightseeing. This includes the palatial Karachi Metropolitan Development Corporation Building, which was built in 1935 to mark George V's Silver Jubilee. It incorporates pointed Oriental cupolas at its four corners and has a lofty clock tower that's also domed in the same style.
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Osaka City Hall
Sandwiched between Dōjima-gawa and Tosabori-gawa, this island ( M0638) is a pleasant oasis of trees and riverside walkways in the midst of Osaka's unrelenting grey. It's also home to Osaka City Hall, the Museum of Oriental Ceramics and Nakano-shima-kōen. The latter park, on the eastern end of the island, is a good place for an afternoon stroll or picnic lunch.
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Malayan Railway Administration Building
The old KL Train Station is mirrored by the equally handsome Malayan Railway Administration Building across the road. Walking here from Chinatown, the best route to follow is to take the pedestrian bridge across from the Central Market to Kompleks Dayabumi and then head south around the back of the post office to the underpass leading to the Masjid Negara.
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Town Hall & City Hall
Town Hall & City Hall are two of Penang's most imposing buildings, with fine porticos. The Town Hall, completed in 1880, is Penang's oldest municipal building and was once a venue for performances, including a group of Filipino musicians who played here from 1890 to 1954. (At the time of writing, the building was closed and its future unsure.)
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Presidential Administration Building
Off to the right of the Soviet war memorial is the Presidential Administration Building, once the presidential residence and the Turkmen Communist Party Central Committee building in more austere times, and most recently the nerve centre of Turkmenbashi's private staff. The strip ends with Ashgabat State University.
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Senate
The shiny white edifice on the west side of the square is the brand new Senate building. Its ample size and appearance suggest that it was built to outdo America's Senate building. The president's office and most ministries take up the southern portion around Gagarin maydoni.
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CCTV Building
The new headquarters for China Central TV is like no other building in the city, or anywhere else. This Dutch-designed behemoth, with its open centre, seemingly defies gravity. The cheeky locals call it ‘big shorts’, as it reminds them of a pair of trousers.
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Presidential Building
Built in 1919 as the headquarters of the then-occupying Japanese forces, the Presidential Building has housed the offices of the president since 1949. Its ornate brickwork is typical of the Japanese era, and at 85m it was the tallest building in town for decades.
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Government House
South of the Church of St Lawrence is the headquarters of the Macau SAR government. This pillared, rose-coloured building was erected in 1849 for a Portuguese noble. It’s open to the public for only one day a year, usually in September or October.
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Town Hall & Court House
Directly opposite the train station, the Town Hall (Dewan Bandaran; 1916) and the Court House (Mahkanah Tinggi; 1928) are suitably impressive white neoclassical buildings of grand proportions. All three were built by the government architect AB Hubbock.
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Treasury Building
In slightly more restrained style than the High Court building is the grand treasury building whose arched cloisters are comically stacked with decades-worth of dusty paperwork bundles that bureaucrats never need yet don't dare to throw away.
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High Court
Walk past the western end of the low-domed West Bengal Assembly building for the most impressive view of the resplendent High Court building, a wonderful architectural mongrel halfway between Oxford college and Venetian opera set.
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