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After the re-occupation of Lucknow by the British, the Machhi Bawan was rebuilt and strongly fortified, but at the time of the great assemblage at Delhi, when the Queen was declared Empress of India, the fortification was completely demolished and the Great Imambara and its adjoining Mosque, made over to the Mahommedan community. The concession was carried out in the year 1883.

23.—THE GREAT IMAMBARA.^[1]

Within the precincts of the Machhi Bhawan is the Great Imambara or Mausoleum of Nawab Asuf-ud-daula, which is said to have cost a million sterling (one crore of rupees), This superb edifice was started as a relief work during the terrible famine of 1784. As the great ornament of the north-western quarter of the city, it forms an architectural view pleasing from its variety of detail, as well as from the proportions and general good taste of its principal features: excepting the galleries in the interior, no wood-work has been used in its construction, and the principal apartment is said to be the largest vaulted hall in the world. The dimensions of the rooms are as follows:—

Centre Room.

Length within	...	...	163	feet.side
Breadth of room	...	...	53	,,
Height	...	...	49 1/2	,,
Thickness of walls	...	...	16	,,

Octagonal Room East				Square Room West
Circumference	216	feet.	|	Square	54	feet.
Hight	53	,,	|	Hight	53	,,
Thickness of wall	16	,,	|	Thickness of wall	16	,,

In front of the Imambara are two courts rising with a steep ascent one above the other, and containing a splendid mosque flanked by two minarets, from the summit of which a magnificent view is obtained of the city and surrounding country.

The following is a description of the decorations of the Imambura, at the time when Bishop Heber visited Lucknow in 1824:

"This tabernacle or chandeliers was hung with immense lustres of silver and gold, prismatic crystals, and coloured glass; and any that were too heavy to be hung,

1. Imumbura is a building in which the festival of the Mohurrum is celebrated and service held in commemoration of the death of Ali and his sons Hasan and Husain. Sometimes it is used as a Makbara or Mausoleum.