A Marwari entrepreneur, Shiv Rattan Mohatta in 1927, originally constructed Mohatta Palace, in Karachi. Karachi was predominantly a port city where entrepreneur Mohatta made his fortune as a ship handler and trader. The architect commissioned for his palace, Ahmed Hussein Agha, was one of the first Muslim architects of India and had come from Jaipur to take up an assignment as chief surveyor for the Karachi Municipality. Ahmed Hussein Agha designed a number of buildings in Karachi but Mohatta Palace was to prove the coup de maître of his professional career. Working in a Mughal revival style with a combination of locally available yellow Gizri and pink stone from Jodhpur, he sought to recreate the Anglo Mughal palaces of the Rajput princes.
Soon after the partition the palace was taken under the control of government of Pakistan as a home to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The palace however after the shift of capital from Karachi to Islamabad was given to Fatima Jinnah for residence purpose in which she lived till her death in 1964. The Palace then became a residence for her sister Shireen Bai, till her death in 1980.
The palace was then closed until 1995, when the Federal Government finally decided to convert this Palace in to a museum. The first two phases of the restoration programme were successfully completed in August 1999 and the Museum opened its doors to the public on 15th September 1999. Since then it has held many major exhibitions displaying artifacts that have never been seen before; these thematic displays were culled from both public and private collections. The Museum has grown from three galleries in 1999 to forty four in 2005.
The museum not only stands out for its robust exteriors and lofty structure but also holds significance for its diverse history dating back to 1920’s. The museum is then perhaps a witness to ups and downs of various historical figures since its creation.
An epic of love, much similar to as of Taj Mahal, but with a slight difference that it was Mohatta’s attempt to save his wife, suffering from serous illness and up on the advice of doctors, who had told Mohatta that the refreshing winds of the sea would cure his wife’s illness. Thus, Shivratan had this fascinating bungalow built in the previous century in Clifton, covering a very large area stretching over 18,000 sq. ft. Even after so much construction and population, the sea can still be seen from the rooftop of the building.