Today, all that remains of this 62m-high tower which once loomed over the streets of southern Kathmandu is its fractured brick base. The tower collapsed to its foundations in the 2015 earthquake, killing 180 people, many of them sightseers who were admiring the views when the earthquake struck.
The tower was originally built in 1825-26 by the Rana prime minister, Bhimsen Thapa, for Queen Lalit as part of the city’s first European-style palace. It was rebuilt with nine storeys, two less than the original building, after it was severely damaged in the 1934 earthquake. The nearby Sundhara water tank is the largest in the city and lends its name to the district.
There are plans to rebuild the tower but no sign of reconstruction at the time of research.