Tajbeg Palace ( ps, د تاج بېګ ماڼۍ; fa, قصر تاج بيگ; ''Palace of the Large Crown''), also inaccurately called the Queen's Palace, is one of the palaces in the popular

Darulaman Darulaman ( fa, دارالامان) is a locality in the south-western fringes of Kabul, Afghanistan, forming part of District 6. The suburb was a planned city built in the 1920s under King Amanullah Khan. Amanullah Khan sought to turn Darulaman i ...

area of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. The stately mansion is located about 10 miles (16 km) south-west from the city's center. It sits on top of a knoll among foothills where the Afghan royal family once hunted and picnicked. It should not be confused with

Darul Aman Palace Darul Aman Palace ( ps, د دارالامان ماڼۍ; prs, قصر دارالامان; 'Abode of Peace' or, in a double meaning, 'Abode of Amanllah) is a three-story-tall palace located in Darulaman, which about south-west of the centre of Ka ...

, which is roughly northeast from Tajbeg Palace. Originally built in the 1920s to house the

Afghan royal family This article lists the heads of state of Afghanistan since the foundation of the first modern Afghan state, the Hotak Empire, in 1709. History The Hotak Empire was formed after a successful uprising led by Mirwais Hotak and other Afghan trib ...

, Tajbeg Palace is one of the most impressive landmarks of "Darulaman," newly created during the era of

Amanullah Khan Ghazi Amanullah Khan ( Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1 ...

by a team of European architects in an attempt to modernize Afghanistan. The palace was damaged during the civil war in the 1990s but was fully renovated in 2021.

History

Evstafiev-40th army HQ-Amin-palace-Kabul

Not far from the castle or ''Tapa-e Taj Beg'' (Taj Beg hill), a palace for the Queen of the

Timurids The Timurid Empire ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( Chagatai: کورگن, ''Küregen''; fa, , ''Gūrkāniyān''), was a PersianateB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition, 2006 Turco-Mongol empire ...

is said to have been found a long time ago. Terraced garden designs were preferred by Timurids and Moguls, and today some ruins remain. The Timurids and their successors, the Moguls, have kinship relations with the Pashtun tribes of Abdali Durrani and later Yusufzai. The daughter-in-law of Ahmad Khan Abdali (the wife of

Timur Shah Durrani Timur Shah Durrani (; prs, ;), also known as Timur Shah Abdali or Taimur Shah Abdali (December 1746 – May 20, 1793) was the second ruler of the Afghan Durrani Empire, from November 1772 until his death in 1793. An ethnic Pashtun, he was the s ...

) was the daughter of Alamgir II. According to some historians, the palace seems to have been renovated by

Zaman Shah Durrani Zaman Shah Durrani, or Zaman Shah Abdali ( Persian: ; 1767 – 1844), was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1801. He was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timur Shah Durrani. An ethnic Pashtun, Zaman Shah became the ...

in 1795 (1210 AH), which was subsequently destroyed in military conflicts, and the ruins from ancient times remain. Foreign soldiers of

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

have documented ruins of the former castle. The new palace was constructed in the 1920s to house the

. The Swedish memoir writer

Rora Asim Khan Aurora Nilsson, also known as ''Rora Asim Khan'' (1 January 1894 – 1972), was a Swedish writer who became known for her autobiographical depiction, ''Flykten från harem'' ("Escape from Harem"), about her experiences in Afghanistan during he ...

, who lived in Afghanistan with her Afghan husband in 1926-27, describe in her memoirs how she was invited to the palace by Queen Soraya to describe Western lifestyle and customs to the Queen and the King's motherRora Asim Khan (Aurora Nilsson): Anders Forsberg and Peter Hjukström: ''Flykten från harem'', Nykopia, Stockholm 1998. . On December 27, 1979, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

launched its intervention in Afghanistan. That evening, the Soviet military launched

Operation Storm-333 Operation Storm-333 (russian: Шторм-333, ), also known as the Tajbeg Palace Assault, was executed by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan on 27 December 1979. It saw Spetsnaz storm the heavily fortified Tajbeg Palace in Kabul and subsequently as ...

, in which some 700 troops, including 54

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

spetsnaz Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .) Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the S ...

special forces troops from the Alpha Group and Zenith Group, stormed the Palace and killed PDPA general secretary

Hafizullah Amin Hafizullah Amin (Pashto/ prs, حفيظ الله امين; 1 August 192927 December 1979) was an Afghan communist revolutionary, politician and teacher. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and co-founded the Democratic Republic of Afghan ...

, who had resided there since December 20. During the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

it served as the headquarters of the Soviet 40th Army. The palace was severely damaged in the years after the Soviet withdrawal, when different mujahideen factions fought for control of Kabul after the fall of PDPA leader

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (Pashto/ prs, محمد نجیب‌الله احمدزی, ; 6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996), commonly known as Dr. Najib, was an Afghan politician who served as the General Secretary of the People's Democratic Par ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

-backed government in 1992. The Afghan government, in conjunction with the German government, have drafted plans for renovating the palace for official use, requiring funds from private donations from wealthy Afghans. These plans were on indefinite hold as the Afghan government seeks to establish peace and stability. A similar plan was approved for the nearby

which was completely renovated and opened to the public on Afghan Indendence Day, August 2019. In 2021, the palace had been completely rebuilt.

Gallery

Tajbeg Palace, Kabul - panoramio.jpg, Tajbeg Palace in 2012 Tajbeg Palace, Darulaman, Kabul - panoramio.jpg, Bird's eye view of the palace in 2012 The ruined 'Queen's Palace',Kabul -e.jpg, The ruined palace Queens Palace (5300182685).jpg, The ruined palace Дворец со стороны правого крыла 27 12 79.jpg, Photograph of the palace's west side during the Soviet assault on 27 December 1979 Dvorec 27 12 79.jpg, The palace one day after the assault

References

External links

www.Darulaman.de – (At the moment only in German – English will follow.)Qasr-e Taj Beg
{{coord, 34, 27, 17.38, N, 69, 6, 48.04, E, display=title Palaces in Afghanistan Buildings and structures in Kabul Province Houses completed in the 20th century Royal residences in Afghanistan Ruined palaces 1920s establishments in Afghanistan

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links