During the demonstrations on 23rd and 24th of August, the main government buildings of the capital including Singha Darbar, Supreme Court, Federal Parliament Building, Sheetal Niwas were burnt. Some of the buildings are destroyed, while others are in a condition that can be reused. Important government records were destroyed and historical buildings were damaged due to intrusions during the Gen-G movement. Sheetal Niwas, one of the important and historic buildings that were damaged in this way, was not left untouched. The history of Sheetal Niwas, which currently houses the President's office, dates back to the Rana period. Not only with the Ranas, but also with the visits of high-level heads of state who visited Nepal, Sheetal Niwas had a sign and history.

Sheetal Niwas was also targeted in the 1990 earthquake, 2072 earthquake and 2082 movement. After the 2072 earthquake, Sheetal Niwas was brought back to its original form by "retro fitting". After 10 years, the protesters have made ruins again.

This is how Sheetal Niwas was built

In 1901, Devashamsher who was in power was deposed by his brother Chandrashamsher Jabara and made himself the Prime Minister and Mr. 3 Maharaj . After taking power, he built a grand palace for his residence. The palace of Chandrashamsher, built in 1904, is now called Singha Darbar. In 1920, Chandrashamsher made the palace the official Prime Minister's office/residence.

The Prime Minister's entire family was not at the lion palace or Chandrashamsher was satisfied. And in the same year, he ordered to build two new palaces in Maharajgunj for the two sons of Jethi Ranipatti. Lakshmi Niwas (currently Bhairavanath Gana of the Army) was established for the eldest son Mohanshamsher and Sheetal Niwas (currently the President's Office) was established for the younger son Krishnashamsher. Similarly, Vijay Vas, the residence of RPP leader Pashupatishamsher Jabara, which is connected to Lakshmi Niwas, was also allocated land at the same time.

Rana Prime Minister Chandrashamsher built this palace for Krishnashamsher, the youngest son of Jethi Badamaharani Lokbhaktalakshmi Devi. Sheetal Niwas, which was completed in 1923 (1980), was severely damaged by the 1990 earthquake. After the earthquake caused damage, Krishnashamsher considered it an opportunity to rebuild . After that, the palace was renovated in a modern way and given its present form. He wanted to make Sheetal Niwas spread over an area of ​​140 ropani like a five-star hotel and started renovating it.

Krishnashamsher got the opportunity to serve in various high positions from ambassador and because he saw the country and abroad, he modernized it accordingly . Prime Minister Juddhashamsher considered General Krishnashamsher as his most trusted character. Juddhashamsher used to take advice from him from the country to abroad. For this reason, he was given the responsibility of the Nepalese ambassador in London. At that time, Nepal and Britain were countries with close relations. Juddhashamsher made his trusted character Krishnashamsher the ambassador there because the Rana family had good relations with Britain since the time of Jung Bahadur. When Bahadur Shamsher, who was the prime minister's grand-uncle, was assigned to Delhi as the head of the Nepalese army sent to help India in the Second World War, Juddha Shamsher appointed his grand-uncle General. After the

, after Bahadur Shamsher returned to Nepal, Krishna Shamsher was sent to Delhi as the head of the Nepalese army deployed in India. He was the Director General of Foreign Affairs . Bhattarai said that this position is more powerful than the minister. Even during the time of Prime Minister Padmashamsher, Krishnashamsher remained in an important position . Because he knows English, has traveled abroad and is well-educated, he used to be called "trusted by foreigners". This is why he became the prime minister's foreign affairs assistant.

Not only this, when there was a dispute between the Ranas on various issues, Krishna Shamsher's initiative would lead to a decisive agreement . Krishnashamsher was married to King Tribhuvan's sister-in-law Adhirajkumari Tara Divyashwari Shah. Mohanshamsher became the Prime Minister with the exit of Padmashamsher from Shri 3 . Then Krishnashamsher fell to the edge in the grip of power. In 2006, he decided to withdraw from the roll and not to live in Nepal. Then he gifted his house Sheetal Niwas, all the furniture there, two buggies, even a motorcar to the government. He wrote a will and submitted it to the government stating that Sheetal Niwas should be used by the government and use it as a 'state guest house' and fled. At that time, he provided 322,802 rupees to the government for maintenance.

On 29 October 2006, then Prime Minister Mohan Shamsher accepted the resignation of General Krishna Shamsher . Also, he accepted all the goods including the palace given to the government as a gift . Krishnashamsher went to Bangalore on 9th of the same year and started living. The British Embassy was located in Lainchour, where the Indian Embassy is now located.

The Indian Embassy was looking for a large palace for offices and ambassador's residence. And the government provided Sheetal Niwas for the Indian embassy. Three days after Krishna Shamsher left Nepal, the Indian Embassy shifted its cool residence from Ranga Mahal on December 12. In the year 2007, King Tribhuvan took refuge in the Indian Embassy with his family while the Indian Embassy was in Sheetal Niwas.

And Sheetal Niwas became a 'State Guest House'

After the Indian Embassy moved to the current building in Lainchour only around 2010/11, the Government of Nepal converted Sheetal Niwas into a 'State Guest House' (guest house) as per the wishes of the donor Krishna Shamsher. Until now, Sheetal Niwas has provided hospitality to the heads of state and government of many countries.

Madan Bhattarai, a former foreign secretary and a student of foreign affairs, says that Sheetal Niwas is a diplomatically isolated place and has records. At one time, from the British Queen Elizabeth to the famous Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, it was kept as a guest .

Krishna Shamsher, the son of Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher, donated a cool house to build a government 'guest house'. Bhattarai, a scholar of diplomatic history and former foreign secretary, said that when Krishna Shamsher donated his personal property, he donated it to build a 'state guest house'. Another diplomat, Gopal Thapa, who has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a long time, said that during their search, they found details of donations for government purposes in Krishna Shamsher's will.

Once upon a time, Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also kept in Sheetal Niwas. After democracy came, it was proposed to move it to Singha Darbar and rent this place to a hotel. During the search, a will was found. Leasing was stopped as it would be against the will of the donor to give it for commercial purposes .

Chandrashamsher built in 1980 for Krishna Shamsher, his youngest son from his elder queen Lokbhaktalakshmi Devi, the palace was used for a long time to house the heads of state and government of different countries .

After Mahendra Shah became king, he built this kind of guest house in Narayanhiti Palace. In Narayanhiti, the practice of hosting foreign royal family guests as guests began on the one hand, while on the other hand, Sheetal Niwas was cut down on expenses and staff, and it gradually stopped being used as a guest house. This palace was designed by engineers Kumarnarasingh Rana and Kishorenarasingh Rana. It is found in the historical records that a government guest house was built during the construction of the building and it is no less than a foreign five star hotel.

According to the President's Office, the then Prime Minister of Burma, U Nu, also stayed in Sheetal Niwas. But Bhattarai said that the date of his stay is not certain and historical records show that Yu Nu only stayed in Sheetal Niwas when he visited Nepal. After that, Chinese Prime Minister Zhou En, who visited Nepal in 1957 and 1960, was kept in Sheetal Niwas both times.

In 1960, the then president of the Soviet Union Voroslov also stayed in Sheetal Niwas when he visited Nepal. He is the only president to visit Nepal on behalf of Russia. Crown Prince Akihito of Japan, who visited Nepal in 1960, also stayed in Sheetal Niwas.

After that, the British Queen Elizabeth also stayed in the cool house. During her first visit to Nepal, she stayed at Sheetal Niwas in 1961. After that, the then President of India, Sarappalli Radhakrishnan, came to stay at Sheetal Niwas. During his visit to Nepal in 1963, he stayed at Sheetal Niwas. It is mentioned in the records that the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Ayub Khan, who visited Nepal in 1963, also stayed in Sheetal Niwas.

After that, the person living in the cool house is also the president of Israel, Zalman Shazar . He stayed there when he visited Nepal in 1966.

Former secretary Bhattarai, who has written many books on diplomatic affairs, says that guests visiting Nepal in the 1970s used to stay at Sheetal Niwas. He said that till the time he started working in the Foreign Service, guests were staying at Sheetal Niwas.

The practice of guest houses in Nepal

While talking about guest houses in Nepal, even though they are discussed as cool residences, diplomat Bhattarai says that the practice of separate houses for special foreign guests is very old.

According to him, the place where there is a charitable institution in Bhimsensthan, Tripureshwar, the place with Ranga Mahal near Kesramahal was also a guest house for foreigners and special indigenous guests. Historians say that BP Koirala stayed in Tripureshwar's guest house when he was the Prime Minister and later it was also used as the Prime Minister's residence.

Wedding ceremony at Sheetal Niwas

Balchandra Gokhale, who was the Indian Ambassador to Nepal from 1952 to 1954, conducted his son's wedding at Sheetal Niwas. After India was freed from the British colony, the Indian Embassy was in Sheetal Niwas during the period until the completion of the embassy building in Nepal. Former Secretary Bhattarai said that one of Ambassador Balchandra's sons got married from there.

Balachandra's son Vijaykeshav Gokhale was also the Foreign Secretary of India from 2018 to 2020. He also visited Nepal.

And Sheetal Niwas transformed into Rashtrapati Bhavan

After the people's movement of 2062/063, the country's monarchy ended and the republic came. With the advent of the republic, the king was removed and the president was elected. Ramvaran Yadav was elected as the first president of the republic of Nepal. After the establishment of the Republic, according to the decision of the Council of Ministers on June 20, 2065, the Government of Nepal decided to make this palace the Presidential Palace. With this decision, Sheetal Niwas was transformed from one history to another. Since then, the President's office and the President's residence have been staying in Sheetal Niwas. It is a symbol of the Republic .

Donor Krishna Shamsher donated this building with the original intention of building a 'State Guest House'. Although it was done in the early days, it was not done in the course of time . So far, Yadav, Vidyadevi Bhandari for two terms and currently Ramchandra Paudel as the President are sitting in this building in Sheetal Niwas. Sushila Karki, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, took the path to the building destroyed by this fire and also administered the oath to her three ministers. In Bhattarai's opinion, since it is a building with history, it should be rebuilt as a 'State Guest House' without keeping the President's office. He has been from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Embassy before, but he suggested that it should be kept in the same way as the donor wished. He has gathered experience from being a journalist to being an employee of foreign affairs. The first one was based on his profession and the second one was going for his work . He also has many memories with this building. Even before he became the ambassador of Germany, he was assigned to Sheetal Niwas by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and after returning from the ambassadorship, he reached there . After he appeared in Nepal, the Foreign Ministry moved to Narayanhiti. After he became the Foreign Secretary, the documents of Sheetal Niwas were handed over to the Department of Archaeology. These old documents were handed over to him for future study purposes.

A master plan to build a guest house in Sheetal Niwas

Before the Covid epidemic, the government had prepared a master plan to add foreign guest houses to Sheetal Niwas. Sheetal Niwas has informed that the implementation of the master plan has not been implemented due to non-availability of land for the training center of the Nepal Police.

An action plan was made to build a state-of-the-art and comfortable 'VVIP Guest House' and 'State Banquet' (State Reception House) along with the helipad at the President's Office.

As more land is needed for that, the Cabinet decided to move the nearest Police Academy from Maharajgunj.

The Council of Ministers meeting held on 21 August 2075 decided to move the Police Academy to Panauti to expand the presidential office and residence.

In honor of the President and Heads of Government and special guests who are visiting Nepal, the President launched a master plan to build a state-of-the-art and well-equipped 'State Banquet' for night and daytime banquets. It was also decided to build a helipad for foreign presidents and heads of government to come directly to the President's Office in a helicopter from Tribhuvan International Airport and bid farewell from there.