Origins in a famine
More than an iconic landmark, Gol Ghar is like a window into the past. Built in 1786 on the orders of the first Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings, the Gol Ghar was initially intended to be a massive granary as a response to the famine of 1770 that had claimed millions of lives across Bihar and Bengal. The British engineer Captain John Garstin designed this towering, dome-shaped structure to hold up to 140,000 tons of grain.
Yet, despite its impressive scale and lofty intentions, the Gol Ghar also had a few shortcomings in its design. The inward-opening door made grain unloading a tricky task, and therefore, the granary was never filled to its full capacity.
An architectural marvel
As soon as you see the Gol Ghar, you are struck by its sheer scale and unique design.
It's shaped like a massive Buddhist stupa, rising at an impressive height of 29 metres, with a diameter spanning 32-35 metres. Remarkably, the Gol Ghar was constructed entirely out of brick and lime mortar, without the support of any interior pillars or beams.
Its most striking feature is its spiral staircase, which winds up 145 steps to the top of the dome. From this point, you are rewarded with stunning city views. Along the way, the staircase passes by small windows cut into the sides of the structure, which were used to load and unload the grains that the Gol Ghar was designed to store.
A circular opening ventilates the storage space below at the very top of the dome. This innovative architectural detail, along with the Gol Ghar's impressive size and stupa-inspired silhouette, makes it a one-of-a-kind monument.