Awadh's capital of etiquette and appetite — vaulted imambaras raised as famine relief, kebabs pounded soft as folklore, and the ruined Residency where the empire turned.
1722
Awadh's nawabs
Saadat Khan founds the dynasty.
1784
Famine relief
The Bara Imambara rises as a public work.
1857
The siege
The Residency is besieged for nearly five months.
1916
The Lucknow Pact
Congress and the League agree, briefly.
Raised in 1784 by Asaf-ud-Daula as famine relief; its vaulted hall is among the world's largest without beams, above the famous maze.
Hire an authorized guide for the maze. Remove shoes before the main hall. In the first ten days of Muharram the imambaras host mourning majlis and may close to sightseers; visit respectfully and check before going.
2 hrs
Constructed in 1838 by Nawab Muhammad Ali Shah as his own mausoleum, its chandeliered hall reflects the syncretic Awadhi-European style of Lucknow's late Nawabi period.
Lit up beautifully in the evening and during Muharram.
60 min
The sixty-foot gate of 1784, said to be modeled on a gateway in Constantinople — Lucknow's emblem.
Best photographed at dusk when lit.
20 min
The 1857 siege site, left unrepaired as a memorial — cannon scars still readable in the brickwork.
Closed Mondays. The museum's model of the siege helps make sense of the ruins.
90 min
A baroque palace built by the French adventurer Claude Martin and opened as a school in 1845, where Martin is buried in the crypt.
A working school; visits by prior permission.
60 min
The ruins of an early-1800s nawabi hunting lodge modeled on an English country house, wrecked in the 1857 fighting.
Quiet and usually empty; good in the late afternoon.
30 min
The 1818 white-domed tomb of Nawab Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar, filled with chandeliers and used as a fort during the 1857 siege.
Dress modestly.
30 min