Aga Khan palace

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Aga Khan Palace

Pune


The grand Aga Khan Palace is set in a peaceful wooded 6.5-hectare plot northeast of the centre. Built in 1892 by Sultan Aga Khan III, this graceful building was where Mahatma Gandhi and other prominent nationalist leaders were interned by the British following Gandhi’s Quit India campaign in 1942.

The main palace now houses the Gandhi National Memorial where you can peek into the room where the Mahatma used to stay. Photos and paintings exhibit moments in his extraordinary life. Both Kasturba Gandhi, the Mahatma’s wife, and Mahadeobhai Desai, his secretary for 35 years, died here in confinement. You’ll find their shrines (containing their ashes) in a quiet garden to the rear.