Anand Bhavan is the ancestral house of the Nehru family located in the present-day Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh.
It was constructed in 1927 by Motilal Nehru, as their previous residence, Swaraj Bhavan, was contributed by him to the Indian National Congress for using as its headquarters. Jawaharlal Nehru had deep sentiments for this mansion, co-designed by Motilal Nehru and an architect sent by the Tata family. In 1931, Anand Bhavan hosted the funeral of Motilal Nehru, which was witnessed by a large number of people. The funeral of Motilal Nehru was portrayed in a painting published by Shyam Sundar Lal of Kanpur, in which Gandhi was portrayed as one of the pallbearers. It was home to several leaders who led both pre and post-independent India.
Anand Bhavan, the historic mansion that sheltered the Nehru family since 1929, was donated by Indira Gandhi in 1970 to the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund and now serves as the Jawahar Planetarium and Memorial Museum.
This picturesque two-storey house is a shrine to the Nehru family, which has produced five generations of leading politicians, from Motilal Nehru (Jawaharlal's father) to the latest political figure, Rahul Gandhi. The 1927 stately home is where Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and others successfully planned the overthrow of the British Raj. It is full of books, personal effects and photos from those stirring times.
The next door Swaraj Bhavan is where former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was born. The English text and photos were spruced up for the 2017 centenary of her birth.
The marriage ceremony of Feroze Gandhi and Indira Nehru at Anand Bhavan, on 26 March 1942.
So it goes without saying that this house holds a special place in modern Indian political milieu. Anand Bhavan is wonderfully decorated with the wooden furniture imported from China and Europe and was decorated with various artefacts from all around the world. In 1970, Indira Gandhi donated this mansion to the Government of India and now is turned into a museum that depicts the life and times of the Nehru family down the years. The exhibits inside the museum highlight the events, which describes the participation of the prestigious family in India’s struggle for independence. Apart from these, the museum has a room entirely dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, often referred to as the Father of the nation. The influential figure of India’s freedom movement used to stay in this very room whenever he visited Allahabad.
