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Jubilee Garden
The Jubilee Gardens are the back drop to Memorial Institutes, buildings built during Colonial period in memory of various people who served for the cause of Kathiawar during their times. They are Conaught Hall (erstwhile senate house and now Arvindbhai Maniar Town Hall); Watson Museum and 100 years old Lang Library.
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Conaught Hall
Conaught Hall was built to commemorate the visit of Arthur, Duke of Conaught, third Prince of Empress Queen Victoria, to Kathiawar in 1887 A.D. This building later came to be known as Senate Hall and presently it is known as Arvindbhai Maniar Town hall.
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Lang Library
In 1856 A.D., a library by the name of 'Gungrahak Mandali' stared off as a one room affair in an english school during the British times. Later on in 1864 A.D., it was shifted to its own independent building in kothi Compound area. From 1893 A.D. onwards, this Library functioned from the grand building in Jubilee Garden. In 1864, it was re-christened as Lang Library in memory of Colonel Lang. Political Agent of Kathiawar, It is the oldest library in Saurashtra. The building housing the library is an important architectural monument of its time. it is built in Victorian style with Gothic arches out of local sand stone.
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Watson Museum
In 1888, it was decided to build a museum in fond memory of Colonel John Watson, Political Agent of Saurashtra from 1881 to 1889 A.D., for service he rendered to the cause of Saurashtra. The museum is set up in the Memorial Institute Buildings located in Jubilee Garden. Watson Museum of Rajkot is the second most important museum in Gujarat, after the museum of Baroda and is the oldest museum in Saurashtra. Colonel Watson was fond of history and archaeology and used to collect information on Rajkot. Most of his collections and other artifacts are preserved here.
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Raiya Naka Gate and Tower
In 1892. the Chief Engineer of the British Agency. Sir Robert Bell Booth, renovated Raiya Naka gate and built the present three storied clock tower.
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Old Fortified Town of Rajkot
Masumkhan, Dy Faudar of Junagadh conquered Rajkot in 1720 A.D. He got a fort built in 1722 A.D. It is said that the perimeter of the fort was 4 to 5 km and its walls were 8 feet wide. There used to be a wide and deep moat all around the fort wall. The fort is non-existent today save some ruins and relics. However, fort gates remain-there were eight gates studded with iron spikes on its outer side for defense purposes. These were Kotharia Naka, Bedi Naka, Bhichari Naka, Raiya Naka and pal no Darwajo. Further, there was a gate without spikes called Khadaki Naku near Nakalank Temple. Remains of fort walls can be seen in the bastion in Ramnath para area. Gates of Bedi and Raiya were modified during the colonial times. In 1892. the chief Engineer of British Agency. Sir Robert Bell Booth, renovated Bedi gate and Raiya Naka gate and built the present three storied clock towers.
Town within the gates and to the west of Aji River was the old fortified town of Rajkot. Spatial organisation of Rajkot was typical of old towns of India, with division based on occupation and cast and the most prominent position being held by the palace in this case the Darbargadh.
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Darbargadh
Darbargadh, seat of Jadeja rulers of Rajkot was built in 1791. It houses various buildings for the royal family. It is built primarily out of locality available lime stone and black trap. The building itself seats on a high plateau overlooking river Aji to its east and is in dilapidated condition today.
It housed two important temples of the old city Hatkesh temple and Haveli Temple. The area around the Darbargadh is dotted with exquisitely carved wooden houses and narrow streets all leading up to the Darbargadh chowk.
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Hatkesh Temple
In 1853, Thakore Mehramanji IV, the ruler of Rajkot gifted the Hatkesh temple to the Nagar community. The temple was renovated in 1935 A.D.
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Traditional 'dela' type houses in Kadiwad
These houses belong to the mason community. They represent on excellent example of contemporary wood-brick construction of the early 20th century. Most of these houses were designed to house a joint family with a single large gateway accessed from the street, a dela, opening in to an open to sky courtyard. Service areas were shared in this house typology.
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Ba Dev Kunwarba Grain Market
The market was built on 2nd October 1825. A princely building this would have been the first attempt at forming a guild of grain merchants. The building is out of sandstone with fine wooden trusses. There are two rows of shapes with a central corridor. The height of the building allows for easy storage of sacks of grains.
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Aji River
Aji is the most important independent river of Saurashtra. The word Aji is derived from Sanskrit (literally meaning mother). Originating from the hills of Sardhar and Lodhika region, it travels through Rajkot, Padadhari and Morbi Taluka of Rajkot district and meets the Arabian Sea near the village Ranjitpara of Jodiya Taluka of Jamnagar District.
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Sir Lakhaji Raj Vegetable Market
This vegetable market built just outside Raiya Naka gate was the first modern building built at that time outside of fort wall. It was built in 1934 A.D. It catered to the population living in periphery of old town. The building displays a fine example of steel truss supported on steel stanchions. A noteworthy feature of this building is its spatial articulation of trussed roof an a curving plan. This building is in a fine state and commands awe and respect of the masons and craftsmen of Rajkot.
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Thosa gali
This is a tight street with width not exceeding couple of meter. Thus, its namethosa, in Gujarti means pushing or jabbing, that one would invariably feel when walking through it. Sweet meat and dry fruits shops are a speciality of this street. The namkin shop at far corner of this street is famous all over the city for their tasty fried snacks.
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