Nepal’s National Flag Unfurls at Narayanhiti Palace

History moved one step further in Nepal when Nepal’s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on June 15, 2008 hoisted the national flag at Narayanhiti Palace, thedeposed Nepali King’s former home, and declared the majestic castle as a national museum.

Nepal’s last monarch Gyanendra had vacated the ancestral palace of the Shah dynasty on June 11, 2008 in compliance with government orders. The former monarchhad shifted to Nagarjun palace allocated to him earlier by the government.

The Nepal government took less than a week to declare it as a national museum. The regal palace has been thrown open for the public.

The government is planning to hand over Narayanhiti Palace to Ministry of Culture for developing and maintenance of the museum. Important artefacts of the 240year old Shah dynasty will be displayed for the common people and tourists, the official sources disclosed.

After hoisting the flag, Koirala urged the people to concentrate on transforming the Himalayan nation as a federal state. It may be recalled that the newly formedConstituent Assembly of Nepal had on May 28, 2008 in its very first meeting abolished monarchy and declared Nepal as a republic as the culmination of a 2006 peacedeal between the former rebels and mainstream political parties.

Some senior Maoists, politicians, diplomats, military officials and police chiefs gathered at a tea party organised to celebrate the museum inauguration.

Tourist AttractionsThe key tourist attractions at the museum will likely be the diamond and emerald adorned crown, sceptre and gilded royal throne, as well as a Mercedes-Benz given toGyanendra’s grandfather by the German dictator Adolf Hitler.

The palace has a macabre role in Nepal’s recent history as it was here where Nepal’s crown prince went berserk in June 2001 killing most of his immediate familyincluding the king and the queen in a drunken and drugged shooting frenzy.

The end of Nepal’s monarchy and the conversion of the sprawling palace into a museum constitutes a most momentous event in Nepal’s history. It is, however,gratifying to note that the transformation has been brought about in an almost bloodless revolution.