Sights in Uttar Pradesh
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Rumi Darwaza
Like the Bara Imambara, the Rumi Darwaza was built in the 1780s by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula. It's unusual but imposing, and said to be a copy of an entrance gate in Istanbul. 'Rumi' (relating to Rome) is the term Muslims applied to Istanbul when it was still Byzantium, the capital of the Eastern Roman empire.
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Akbar’s Mausoleum
This outstanding sandstone and marble tomb commemorates the greatest of the Mughal emperors. The huge courtyard is entered through a stunning gateway. It has three-storey minarets at each corner and is built of red sandstone strikingly inlaid with white-marble geometric patterns.
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Hanumangarhi
At Ayodhya, you can start your temple tour at the town’s most popular one, Hanumangarhi, set back off the main street. Walk up the 76 steps to the ornate carved gateway and the fortresslike outer walls, and join the throng inside offering prasad (food offerings).
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Dhamekh Stupa & Monastery Ruins
Set in a peaceful park of monastery ruins is the impressive 34m Dhamekh Stupa, which marks the spot where the Buddha preached his first sermon. The floral and geometric carvings are 5th century AD, but some of the brickwork dates back as far as 200 BC.
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Bara Imambara
This colossal tomb is worth seeing in its own right, but the highly unusual labyrinth of corridors inside its upper floors make a visit to this imambara particularly special. The ticket price includes entrance to Chota Imambara, the clock tower and the baradari.
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Hussainabad (Chota) Imambara
Just 500m up the road from the Bara Imambara is another tomb that was constructed by Mohammed Ali Shah in 1832, who is buried here, alongside his mother. Smaller than the Bara Imambara but adorned with calligraphy, it has a more serene and intimate atmosphere.
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Chaukhandi Stupa
This large ruined stupa dates back to the 5th century AD, and marks the spot where Buddha met his first disciples. The incongruous tower on top of the stupa is Mughal and was constructed here in the 16th century to commemorate the visit of Emperor Humayun.
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Buddha Museum
Next door to the Tibetan Temple is the Buddha Museum, which exhibits Buddhist relics, sculptures and terracottas unearthed from the Kushinagar region, as well as some Tibetan thangkas (rectangular painting on cloth) and Mughal miniature paintings.
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Wat Thai Complex
The impressive Wat Thai complex features an elaborate temple, beautifully maintained gardens with bonsai-style trees, a monastery and a temple containing a gilded Buddha. There’s also a Sunday school and health clinic, each of which welcomes visitors.
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Astronomical Observatory
Man Singh built a palace at Man Mandir Ghat in 1600 and in the next century Jai Singh II added this astronomical observatory. Although vaguely interesting it's not on the scale of the observatories in Delhi and Jaipur and it's hard to justify the entrance fee.
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Museum
On the western side of the Taj gardens is a very small museum, housing original architectural drawings of the Taj and some nifty celadon plates, said to split into pieces or change colour if the food served on them contains poison.
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State Museum
Enter through the zoo. Lucknow’s fine State Museum houses sculptural masterpieces dating back to the 3rd century AD, including intricately carved Mathura sculptures ranging from dancing girls to scenes from the life of Buddha.
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Pagal Baba Temple
The 10-storey Pagal Baba Temple, a fairy-tale-castle lookalike, has an amusing succession of animated puppets and dioramas behind glass cases on the ground floor, which depict scenes from the lives of Rama and Krishna.
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Bharat Kala Bhavan
On the Benares Hindu University campus is Bharat Kala Bhavan, a roomy museum with a wonderful collection of miniature paintings, as well as 12th-century palm-leaf manuscripts, sculptures and local history displays.
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Cave Passageway
To the right of the glittery Krishna Temple, at the town’s entrance, is a fake cave passageway where you walk past a long line of slightly moving tableaux depicting scenes from Krishna’s life.
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Undying Banyan Tree
Outside the Patalpuri temple - though its roots can be seen beneath ground - is the Undying Banyan Tree from which pilgrims used to leap to their deaths, believing it would liberate them from the cycle of rebirth.
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Zoo
The large, shady zoo is somewhat depressing, with animals pacing up and down in their small enclosures, but you must enter it if you want to visit Lucknow’s fine State Museum.
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Archaeological Museum
The rooms that aren’t empty in this large museum house superb collections of religious sculptures by the Mathura school, which flourished from the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD.
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Kesava Deo Temple
Among the foundations of the mural-filled Kesava Deo Temple, in the Sri Krishna Janmbhoomi, is a small, bare room with a slab of rock on which Krishna is said to have been born, some 3500 years ago.
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Bahu Begum Ka Maquabara
In Faizabad, the Bahu Begum ka Maquabara is the Begum’s unique mausoleum. It has three domes built above each other with wonderfully ornate decoration on the walls and ceilings.
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Dashrath Bhavan
Dashrath Bhavan is a temple approached through a colourful entranceway. The atmosphere inside is peaceful, with musicians playing and orange-clad sadhus reading scriptures.
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Tulsi Manas Temple
The modern marble, sikhara -style Tulsi ManasTemple's walls are engraved with verses and scenes from the Ram Charit Manas, the Hindi version of the Ramayana.
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Shah Najaf Imambara
The impressive Shah Najaf Imambara is the tomb of Nawab Ghazi-ud-din Haidar, who died in 1827, and three of his wives, including one known as Mubarak Mahal who was a European.
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Baradari
Near the clock tower is a baradari, a striking red-brick building, built in 1842, which overlooks an artificial lake and houses portraits of the nawabs.
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Allahabad Museum
This extensive museum in the grounds of a pleasant park has archaeological and Nehru family items, modern paintings, miniatures and ancient sculptures.
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