Qualla: Mohatta Palace

Mohatta Palace: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Asfandmajeed, CC BY-SA 3.0. Shivratan Mohatta made his fortune manufacturing palm olive soap in Karachi. In 1927, he used that fortune to build a summer palace in the seaside neighborhood of Clifton, importing pink stone from Jodhpur and combining it with local yellow stone from nearby Gizri. He enjoyed the palace for about twenty years. Then came Partition. Mohatta left for India in 1947, and his palace became government property. The soap tycoon's summer home now serves as one of Pakistan's finest museums.

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Image: Asfandmajeed | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mohatta Palace: From Bikaner to Karachi

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Arsalabbasi, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Mohatta family's recorded history begins with Motilal Mohata, who migrated from Bikaner, Rajasthan, to Hyderabad in 1842 to work as a shop clerk. His children moved to Calcutta and became leading cloth merchants. One son, Govardhan Mohta, relocated to Karachi in 1883. His old...

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Image: Arsalabbasi | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mohatta Palace: Nine Domes and a Temple to Shiva

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fassifarooq, CC BY-SA 4.0. The palace rises on three levels, from a basement with a hot-water pool chamber to a rooftop crowned by nine domes, the central one surrounded by four smaller companions. Each corner features an octagonal tower topped with chattris. The building is made entirely of teak wood insi...

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Image: Fassifarooq | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mohatta Palace: Exiled Statues of the Raj

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Farhan from Karachi, Pakistan, CC BY 2.0. After Mohatta's departure, the Government of Pakistan acquired the palace to house the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A trust was eventually established to manage the property, and the Mohatta Palace Museum formally opened in 1999. Next to the main building stands a small collectio...

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Image: Farhan from Karachi, Pakistan | CC BY 2.0

Mohatta Palace: A Living Gallery

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marizz16, CC BY-SA 3.0. The museum has hosted exhibitions spanning Pakistan's cultural breadth since its opening. Treasures of the Talpurs, the arts of Gandhara, the ceramic tradition of Pakistan, and retrospectives of artists like Sadequain and Jamil Naqsh have filled the stately rooms that Mohatta des...

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Image: Marizz16 | CC BY-SA 3.0