Darul Aman Palace (grounds) (Kabul)

 park, ruins, abandoned / shut down

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Amanullah Kahn was king of Afghanistan from 1919 till 1929 and he strove to adapt Afghanistan to a more updated era. Amanullah Kahn announced the construction of the Darula Aman Palace at the beginning of his reign in 1919 and his grand vision began to come alive. Designed in Neoclassical architecture, the Darul Aman Palace was to be a statement of modernization. King Amanullah Kahn was moving to fast for his conservative religious counterparts and rebellions began in 1924. Kahn still remained in power and proceeded on with the building of the palace while he left the country for a travel through Europe. Before he left for his tour in 1927, he foretold that the palace was to be the seat of a future parliament and the new capital of Afghanistan. During his absence the palace and the rest of Kabul were over come by the uprising revolutionaries and Amanullah Kahn was overthrown. He fled and remained in exile until his death. The Darul Aman Palace was interiorly destroyed by a fire in 1969 and later repaired and restored in the 1970′s by the Defence Ministry. In 1978, it was lit ablaze again by the Communist coup and damaged again in the 1990′s by Mujahideen groups. After this the Palace was left as an utter ruin.By 2005, private donated funds were to be used to restore Darul Aman Palace but this never occurred.