Golghar is an ancient British East Indian built structure which provided the storage of food grains to the British. It is a dome shaped circular construction which lies to the west of Gandhi Maidan, Patna., Bihar. Golghar means a round house which represents the shape of the construction. This is a granary which is used to store the grains.

This construction was built during British rule. History says that the region was hit by a huge famine during the year 1770 and killed nearly 10 million people. The then governor general of India, Warren Hastings, asked to construct a dome shaped structure, to store grains for the British. But the structure was constructed by then British East India engineer, Captain John Garstin. The construction was completed on July 20, 1786.

The base of the Golghar is extended to 125 m in width and the walls are 3.6 meters thick. The height of the tomb is 29m. The top of the dome can be reached by the staircase attached to one side and one can get down to bottom using the other staircase built on the other side. There are 145 stairs for each stair case. It is said that workers used to carry grain bags to top using one staircase and descend using another. The top of the structure provides the beautiful panoramic view of the city and the river Ganga. This spectacular view of the city attracts the visitors. It is the tallest building in Patna at the time of its construction. It has a storage capacity of 1400000 tons. The doors here are opened inwards. Thus the tomb is never filled to its full capacity as the doors can’t be opened.

Immediately after the monsoon the place provides a beautiful scenario for the viewers who visit here. The months of October to February too provides an enchanting view. Here the evenings are pleasant and wonderful with the view the Ganga and an archeological view of the tomb. Golghar is open throughout the day for the visitors.

Golghar was repaired from a poor situation which experienced cracks throughout the building. The beautification works of Golghar are in an intermediate stage without further processing. The experts who seemed to deal the technical problems with Golghar are seemed to be absent over a period created the situation difficult for the government to make further demand of money to central government. The central government had allotted rs.1.2cr for the beautification of the project. The technical team started their work with construction of a boundary wall with a gate. The wall was built but a part is under work. The secretary of art, culture and archeology promised to complete the repairing of Golghar as soon as possible.J K Lal, a noted architect, under the team of beautification process has done the landscaping of Golghar, involving the construction of a cafeteria, small shops for vending and displaying handicrafts and a fountain which improves the tourism of Patna.

A state-of-art laser show has been started with in the boundary of Golghar from January 12, 2013. The state tourism corporation has taken this initiative to improve the tourist attractions of the place. This project of attraction includes a Laser Show and a synchronized colorful fountain. The laser show depicts the history of Golghar and Bihar during the stipulated duration between 6.15 pm to 7.15 pm on every Friday, Saturday and Sundays. A minimal amount of Rs.30/- is collected for the Laser show per head and the tickets for the same are available only 30 min before the show. An entrance fees of Rs.2/- is collected from the visitors of Golghar, the amount thus collected will be used to develop this historical monument.

Golghar can be reached by any means of transportation from major cities in India. Mithapur bus stop, Patna is 5.8km from Golghar which takes 11-15 min to reach the destination. Patna International Airport is 7.6 km from Golghar which is 14 min by a local transport. The city can be toured by a public transport or a private transport.

Patna is a city of beautiful historic monuments which represent the heritage of the area. Some of the most beautiful sightseeing near Golghar includes Patna Museum, Khuda Baksh Oriental Library, Agam kaunand Gandhi setu.