The Amir-ud-daula Public Library ( hi, अमीर-उद-दौला पब्लिक लाइब्रेरी, ur, امر-اد-دلا پبلک لائبریری), is a public

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

The library has a long history in different locations in Lucknow. In 1868 it was part of the

State Museum Lucknow State Museum, Lucknow is a prominent museum located in the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, India. The museum is currently located in the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Gardens, Banarasi Bagh, Lucknow. The museum was established in 1863 from t ...

, known then as the Provincial Museum, and open to student readers in 1887. In 1907 the collection moved to the upper storey of the Lal Baradari, a building constructed by Nawab Saadat Ali Khan (1798-1814). In 1910 it shifted to the Chota

Chattar Manzil The Chattar Manzil ( ur, , hi, छतर मंज़िल), or Umbrella Palace is a building in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh which served as a palace for the rulers of Awadh and their wives. Coordinates:26°85′N 80°93′E Construction and ...

and opened as the Public Library, Lucknow. In 1926 the library moved again, this time to a building constructed for the purpose. The foundation stone was laid by Sir

Harcourt Butler Sir Spencer Harcourt Butler (1 August 1869 – 2 March 1938) was an officer of the Indian Civil Service who was the leading British official in Burma for much of his career, serving as Lieutenant-Governor (1915–17 and 1922–23) and later Go ...

in 1921. The library was gifted to the Government of the United Provinces by the

Taluqdar Taluqdars or Talukdar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: ; Perso-Arabic: , ; from ''taluq'' "estate/attachment" + '' dar'' "owner"), were aristocrats who formed the ruling class during the Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, Mughal Empire and British Raj ...

s of

Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

and named after

Mohammad Amir Hasan Khan Maharaja Sir Mohammad Amir Hasan Khan, Khan Bahadur, KCIE (1849 - 27 June 1903) was the Raja of Mahmudabad from 1858 to 27 June 1903 and a noted zamindar of British India. Raja of Mahmudabad He was son of Raja Mohammad Nawab Ali Khan (d.1858), ...

, one of whose titles was Amir-ud-daula. In 1947, the Taluqdar’s Association transferred some land in front of the Library for the construction of a park

Collection of books

The collection includes about 2 lakh books in languages that include Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Bengali, and Sanskrit.

References

{{Authority control Education in Lucknow Public libraries in India Buildings and structures in Lucknow 1868 establishments in India Libraries in Uttar Pradesh