lucknow

Updated: May 24, 2017 13:21 IST

The ongoing excavation work at Lucknow’s iconic Chhatar Manzil reached another level when excavators unearthed a 15X15 room beneath the building on Tuesday. Officials of the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN)--the agency carrying out the excavation--termed the finding unique.

They further said the excavation was expected to unravel many more hidden chapters of the history that had been lying buried for long. “It is made up of all Lakhori bricks. But since nothing else was recovered from the room, it’s really difficult to comment on its purpose,” said one of the UPRNN officials supervising the work.

The room was recovered at the depth of around 20 feet beneath the historic building. Officials said the excavation would continue till they reached the foundation of the structure. “Our main aim was to reach its foundation and to strengthen it. But instead of the foundation, we recovered more storeys of the twin structures—Chhatar Manzil and Kothi Farhat Baksh,” he added.

He said the excavators had reached 20- feet level and there was no sign of its foundation. “We will dig until the foundation is unearthed,” he added. Similarly at Kothi Farhat Baksh, the excavators found another part of the tunnel that was lying buried. The officials also apprehended a huge loss to the structure as they said the mud recovering the structures was highly moist and excessive moisture might have caused great damage to the structures.

The discovery was made last week when the labourers began to dig Chhatar Manzil’s basement and found pillars going deep inside the ground, revealing another storey of the imposing structure that once served as a palace for the rulers of Oudh and their begums. They also found a storey of Kothi Farhat Baksh.

Read more | Historical find: Excavators dig a storey out of Chhatar Manzil