A famous monument Laheripura Darwaja (Gate), built in Maratha style with rich and exquisite engravings and patterns is significantly linked to Vadodara’s composite cultural life. No doubt the gate is a silent spectator to many bygone battles, trade and cultural activities, festivals, and large public congregations in the city.
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| Lehripura Gate, Vadodara ,Gujarat, .visitwander.com |
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| Lehripura Gate, Vadodara ,Gujarat, Alamy.com |
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| Back part of Lehripura gate, Vadodara wikimapia.org |
Lehripura Gate, built in 1558, close to Nyay Mandir in the busy Chardarwaja area of Vadodara (Baroda) of Gujarat state is a tall and richly ornamental gate with appealing arches among the four gates in this colorful, noisy and bustling market area of the old city. The other gates are Champaner, Gendigate and Panigate at the entry points and they served the old city with the Mandvi gate being at the center of the city.
The present day Laheripura Darwaja (Gate) is part of Western Rampants of the Kila-e-Daulatabad fort that was built by Sultan Khalil Khan who ascended the throne in 1511 CE after his father's death. The old name Vadpatrak later became Vadodara (Baroda). The name Leheripura owes its origin to the Laharis - groups of coppersmith communities that used to reside there. Today this area has shops that sell traditional Gujarati and Marwari artifacts.
The gate is said to been built during the pre-Mughal period. As the records are not available, its date of construction is a subject of debate. All the three cusped arches give a unique look and on either side at the end one can see a tower like feature with a cap on it. The large Jharokha on the walled space in the central archway and the small deco get our attention. The British architect Robert Chisholm who popularise the Indo-Saracenic design was much impressed with the gate and got some inspiration. During his long stay here he designed many structures in Baroda for the ruler Maharajah Sayajirao Gaekwad III. The carefully planned architectural elements enhance the aesthetics and grand look of the old styled entrance gate.
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| Lehripura gate, Vadodara tandfonline.com |
Above image: Vintage image of Lehripur gate, Vadodara, GJ: First modified in 1879 at the time of the wedding of maharajah Sayajirao Gaekwad III with Maharani Chimnabai. The three gateways had no ornamentation or decoration. There were motifs and paintings. The stucco works in the spandrels (triangular gap: see the image) of the arches are faded way due to time and vagaries of weather. The upper level of the gate has projected balcony with a roof cove above. Above mage: Lehripura-gate, Vadodara: The arches were widened bit on the sides after 1890 to tackle traffic congestion.
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| Spandrels en.wikipedia.org |
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| 1890 Lehripura gate, Vadodara in.pinterest.com |
Tit-bits:
Collapse of a small roof of Lehripura Gate, Vadodara, GJ
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| pre-mughal-era-Lehripura-gate,Vadodara /indianexpress.com |
Above images; Back part of the Lehripura Gate with 5 simple arches with a parapet wall all along with a series of small vertical openings. In the 3rd week of Sept, 2021 part of the ceiling collapsed due to heavy rains. The collapse was due to official apathy and poor upkeep. Though the gate is not on the list of ASI's protected monument list, in 2014 it was restored by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) along with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). ASI replaced the damaged stones from arches, refurbished the lime concrete and did chemical treatment. In addition, they restructured the the support pillars and walls. The collapse could have been prevented had the government officials taken precautions to save the historic value of this simple, but elegant entry gate way............
Based on an old post:
https://www.navrangindia.in/2022/07/historical-leheripura-gate-of-vadadora.html
http://wikimapia.org/1249506/Laheripura-Gate.
https://historyofvadodara.in/lehripura-gate
https://traveltriangle.com/blog/lehripura-gate/
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