A palace that was in Pakistan for less than two days

IN 1904 THE WASIF Manzil, a palace in Murshidabad (West Bengal,  India) was restored after an earthquake had badly damaged it in 1897. The palace was built for Sir Sayyid Wasif Ali Mirza Khan Bahadur (1875-1959), who became Nawab of Murshidabad in 1906. It was designed by a Britisher, Mr Vivian, and  a Bengali engineer, Surendra Barat.  This pleasant building is a mixture of architectural styles and includes some turrets with crenellations.

 

Visitors can explore the interior of Wasif Manzil, which now contains a museum. The exhibits include several wooden framed mirrors, which were imported from Belgium. There are also some glass topped display cases containing dust covered documents, several of which have obsequious addresses to Queen Victoria and some of her royal successors. By the time that Wasif Ali Mirza was living, Indian royalty was very much at the beck and call of the British rulers of India. It was in their interest to appear to be loyal supporters of the Imperial rulers of India.

 

On the fifteenth of August 1947, when land was divided between the newly formed Pakistan and independent India (by Cyril Radcliffe who only visited  India for the first tine in 1947), Murshidabad was allotted to Pakistan: it became part of East Pakistan (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murshidabad_district).

Thus, the Wasif Manzil stood on Pakistani territory.  However, less than two days later, there was a territorial land swap: Murshidabad, then in Pakistan, was exchanged for Khulna, then in India. Thus Murshidabad became part of India  and Khulna became part of East Pakistan  (now Bangladesh).

 

Because of a brief period in the second half of August 1947, the Wasif Manzil was in Pakistan for less than two days.