Patna High Court's original architectural design gone missing

Original architectural design of the 100-year-old iconic Patna High Court modelled on the plan of the grand Allahabad High Court building has gone missing.
Built in a neo-classical style based on a Palladian design, the majestic building was formally inaugurated in an impressive ceremony on February 3, 1916.
Year-long celebrations marked the centenary of this august institution, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the curtains on it here yesterday.
A thick volume containing rare archival images of the court, including of the foundation stone laying in 1913 and its opening, was released on the opening of the centenary functions on April l8, 2015, but the souvenir did not contain any image of the record of its architectural plans.

"For our centenary celebrations, we dug into our old archives and material available at the court museum. While we were able to retrieve some rare pictures and artifacts related to its history, our efforts to find the building plan proved futile.
"Yes, it is the centenary time and we wanted people to know the glorious history of this institution, but sadly we could not trace the original plan of the court's building," Registrar General, Patna High Court, Vinod Kumar Sinha told PTI.

The Centenary Committee which was set up to organise the celebrations also commissioned a documentary chronicling the 100 years of the historic court which was screened yesterday.

City-based filmmaker Rajesh Bhushan, who piloted the film project said, we "moved heaven and earth" trying to locate the original design of the building, but we were left disappointed.
"The film is about 20 odd minutes and tells the story of the court, including its inception, the architecture and the landmark cases which are now lodged in history books.
"We received some of the old rare images, including of the foundation-stone laying opening ceremony but even they were not in good condition and so we had to restore them or take a shot directly as they were too fragile to scan," he said.

The building, now an iconic city landmark sitting pretty on the equally historic Bailey Road, was designed by J F Munnings who was assisted by A M Millwood. It was built by Martin & Co., whose promoter Sir R N Mukherjee even attended the opening function in 1916.
"We even travelled to the parent company's office (now Martin Burn & Co.) in Kolkata and met the current officials there. They tried to look up in their archives but we ran out of luck there as well," Mishra rued.
Incidentally, the design of the Patna High Court was
inspired from the plan of the new building of the Allahabad High Court which was designed by famous architect Frank Lishman and also completed in 1916.

The High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces (later Allahabad High Court) came into being in 1866 and functioned from an old building, which is still in use today.
The new building was completed and inaugurated later on November 27, 1916 by Viceroy Lord Chelmsford, Lord Hardinge's successor.
In a coincidence of sorts, the Allahabad High Court is beginning the institution's 150th year celebrations tomorrow and both grand buildings have been lit up beautifully to mark their respective anniversaries.
55-year-old history professor Ashok Anshuman at L S College in Muzaffarpur, currently researching on the history of the Patna High Court, says, "I tried to look for original architectural designs from all possible avenues but failed to get any positive results."

"It is because we do not have a culture of archiving ingrained in our psyche unlike in the West. It is sad that on its centenary, we are getting to know that the original building plans cannot be traced. It should have been preserved, at least by the High Court," Anshuman told