Tribhuvan Sadan at Narayanhiti Palace – Kathmandu, Nepal - Atlas Obscura

Tribhuvan Sadan at Narayanhiti Palace

This reconstructed building was the site of the worst royal massacre in recorded history. 

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On the night of June 1, 2001, a man dressed in camouflage and carrying an arsenal of automatic and semi-automatic weapons began firing on the royal family of Nepal in Tribhuvan Sadan, their private quarters at the Narayanhiti Palace complex.  After some six minutes of chaotic violence, King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya, and eight other royals were dead or dying.  Among the slain was Crown Prince Dipendra, the man responsible for the shooting. 

The official story is that Prince Dipendra was in a dispute with his parents over whom he was permitted to marry.  The woman he loved was from a family that had long been antagonistic toward the ruling family, and on June 1, the senior royals had met privately to discuss the situation.  Dissatisfied with the direction of talks, Prince Dipendra reportedly drank himself into a stupor and then, later in the evening, shot his parents at point blank range.   His rampage ended when he turned the gun on himself.

The Prince, however, did not die immediately and he lingered in a coma for three days.  Ironically, because he was next in line to the throne, he officially served as king during that period.  His uncle, Gyanendra, the less popular younger brother of Birendra, was crowned king after the prince’s death and served as the last king of the last Hindu kingdom in the world.

King Gyanendra eventually had the original private quarters razed, especially the billiard room where much of the carnage occurred.  However, some original parts structures are still partially intact, and one wall exhibits bullet holes made on that fateful night.

Destroying the original Tribhuvan Sadan became a key element in conspiracy theories that persist, even now that eyewitness and survivor reports have been widely published.  Many Nepalis refuse to believe the official reports and continue to ask questions such as:  Why didn’t security guards react faster?  Why did the right-handed Dipendra shoot himself with his left hand?  Why was no alcohol found in his blood after it was reported he had been drinking heavily?  Why was Gyanendra the only family member not at the event?  And why did Gyanendra not pursue a more rigorous investigation and then destroy evidence?  According to some, no satisfactory answers have been offered.

After a long civil war, Nepal’s monarchy came to an end in 2008 and a new more  democratic government has opened the Narayanhiti Palace as a museum.  To help explain the massacre, the museum is in the process of rebuilding of the parts of the Tribhuvan Sadan which King Gyanendra demolished.  The palace itself, built in the 1960s, is filled with taxidermy, exotic objet d’art, and political memorabilia and feels like a mid-century time capsule.  As of 2018, the museum began displaying the crown jewels which previously had been kept out of the public eye except on special royal occasions.   

But for most visitors, the macabre highlight of a tour of the palace grounds is a pilgrimage to the bullet holes in the Tribhuvan Sadan, a grim reminder of Nepal’s bloody history.

Know Before You Go

The museum does not permit photography or electronic devices inside the grounds.  If you visit, be prepared to leave your phone or camera with the somewhat secure front office. 

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