by Sunder Nursery of Delhi, a World Heritage Site.
Sunder Nursery Park is a 16th century Heritage Park with it’s historical monuments, built by Indian Mughals. This park is known as Sunder Nursery and the park complex is located adjacent to Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, India. During Mughal times, this garden was known as “Azim Bagh”.
During British Raj, Sunder Nursery has been a farm and a garden of experiments to test the sustainability of plants and herbs of different species. The plants and herbs were brought from different part of world and planted here. Due to this reason and presence of Sundarwala Mahal (a palace), this is called Sunder Nursery. With the passage of time, the park containing trees, pond, pool and monuments had become degraded and were left in its own bad condition.
A huge park spreading in an area of about 36 hectares, with its important monuments, in a densely populated city like Delhi, drew the attention of government and the international agencies, to restore and renovate in early years of 21st century.
- Also read the facts about Qutub Minaret, built in 13th century AD in New Delhi, a World Heritage Site.
The challenging work of restoration and development was undertaken by Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) (a prestigious world renowned trust), with the partnership of Central Public Works Department (CPWD) Government of India. Renovation and restoration works of Sunder Nursery was started in 2007.
It took lots of energy and time to restore specially the monuments’ delicate work of painting with high precision. Eventually, it was ready for public, and the heritage park reopened with a new beautiful classical look, inaugurated on 21 February, 2018. After the renovation the park is also known as “Delhi’s Central Park”.
Today the garden contains over 300 types of trees of different species, with its water pool, flowers, herbs and historical monuments. There are numbers of monuments in the park complex, 6 out of those, have been listed by the UNESCO World Heritage site. The most beautiful monuments are Sunder Burj, Sunderwala Mahal, Lakkarwala Burj, Chota Bateshewala and tomb of Mirza Muzaffar Hussein, of 16th century.
Follow the link and watch this short video on YouTube to view the difference before and after restoration and the inauguration of Sunder Nursery.
Main attraction of Sunder Nursery:
There are lots to see, explore and observe here in this park. Hundreds of species of green trees, flowering plants, herbs, bushes, lush green well maintained grass on ground, open space and sky views are the general features of a park. But, what make this park particular and unique are it’s water pool and water channels with fountains, artificial water lake and most importantly beautiful monuments with spectacular designs, architecture and historicity.
This beautiful park has been recently awarded with Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation by UNESCO, in the year 2020.
You can find different families of birds like mynah, crow, bulbul, eagle and the most amazing Indian peacocks in this park. There are insects and animals like ants of many kinds, lizards, squirrels, rabbit, and chameleons. Apart from this, honey bee sucking the nectar from flowers to make sweet honey, and other bees, fly and colorful butterflies can be seen in garden.
Another unique attraction is the “Farmers’ Market” organized on every Sunday in a temporary clothed sheds and tents in the premises of Sunder Nursery. The Farmers’ Market opens from 08:00 AM to 01:00 PM and this is special market in the sense that the sellers sell their own organic products in small scale. These sellers are from Delhi, and also come from other states of India as well.
- Also read about the tour of Garden of Five Senses in Delhi.
The majority of buyers come from the rich and health conscious class of people, mostly from embassies bureaucracy and others in Delhi. One can buy the products like cold pressed mustard oil, sesame and groundnut oil and tasty homemade pickles of lemon, chili, ginger, raw mango, mixed, garlic and other things. Organic spices and herbs, ghee, natural honey, vegetables and other kitchen ingredients are available in Sunday market. You can also taste some hot, fresh and tasty Indian snacks available in the market.
A heritage park like Sunder Nursery is preferred and mostly visited by school going students and teachers, and by Indian and foreign tourists, families and couples. The beautifully laid pathways with red sandstone and concrete lead us to different parts of the park. The pathways adds the color and beauty to the surface landscape. There are seating arrangements of beautifully designed wood and metal benches, where you can sit and think.
You can also make your child enjoy swinging on swings, hanging from huge trees. There is also a small shop selling the snacks like popcorn, chips, ice-cream, water bottle, coffee and tea.
There is a small nursery space and a greenhouse dedicated to portable decorative plants and flowers. You can buy some plants and take to your house.
Timing:
Opening Time: 07:00 AM to 07:00 PM
Park opens all 7 days of a week, except on National Holidays.
Address Sunder Nursery:
Bharat Scouts and Guides Marg, Opposite Humayun’s Tomb Park, Near Sabz Burj, Nizamuddin, National Zoological Park, Sundar Nagar, New Delhi-110013
Entry Tickets:
Rs. 40 for adult and Rs. 20 for child and Rs. 20 for senior citizens. Kids below 5 years of age are free to enter in the garden.
Ticket for foreign tourist Rs. 200.
Entry tickets are available at the counter at the entry gate of park with payment in cash and via card/UPI.
Parking space is available near the garden with parking charges.
For more information on Parking and Entry charges log in to official site of Sunder Nursery link.
How to reach Sunder Nursery:
You can reach hiring auto rickshaw/taxi/cab or by a bus or metro rail.
Nearest Metro Station Sunder Nursery:
Hazrat Nizamuddin Metro Station is the nearest one.
