Tajbeg Palace (; ; ''Palace of the Large Crown''), also inaccurately called the Queen's Palace, is one of the

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

s in the popular Darulaman area of

Kabul Kabul 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. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The stately mansion is located about south-west from the city's center. It sits on top of a knoll among foothills where the Afghan royal family of the day, known as the Barakzai dynasty, once hunted and picnicked. Originally built in the 1920s to house the then royal family, Tajbeg Palace is one of the most impressive landmarks of Darulaman, a district created during the era of Amanullah Khan by a team of European architects in an attempt to modernize Afghanistan. The palace served as the residence of General Secretary Hafziullah Amin. The palace was damaged during the civil war in the 1990s but was 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 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) was the daughter of Alamgir II. According to some historians, the palace seems to have been renovated by Zaman Shah Durrani in 1795 (1210 AH), which was subsequently destroyed in military conflicts, and the ruins from ancient times remain. Foreign soldiers of ISAF have documented ruins of the former castle. The new palace was constructed in the 1920s to house the Afghan royal family. The Swedish memoir writer Aurora Nilsson (also known as ''Rora Asim Khan''), who lived in Afghanistan with her Afghan husband in 1926–27, describes 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 mother.Rora Asim Khan (Aurora Nilsson): Anders Forsberg and Peter Hjukström: ''Flykten från harem'', Nykopia, Stockholm 1998. . On December 27, 1979, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

launched its intervention in Afghanistan. That evening, the Soviet military launched Operation Storm-333, in which some 700 troops, including 54

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

spetsnaz SpetsnazThe term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or () are special forces in many post-Soviet states. Historically, this term referred to the Soviet Union's Spet ...

special forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

troops from the Alpha Group and Zenith Group, stormed the Palace and killed PDPA general secretary Hafizullah Amin, who had resided there since December 20. During the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

it served as the

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

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

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996) was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the second president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992, shortly after the Afghan mujahideen' ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

-backed government in 1992. The Afghan government, in conjunction with the German government, 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 sought to establish peace and stability. A similar plan was approved for the nearby Darul Aman Palace which was completely renovated and opened to the public on Afghan Independence 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

Darulaman.de

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