2. Mandvi Pavilion
About the Pavilion
The central pavilion of the city, the Mandvi pavilion is locally also known as the
Mandvi Gate. This structure is placed on the junction of the city, making it the
center of attraction of the city as well. 'Mandvi comes from the hindi word
'Mandapa' meaning 'pillared hall'.
During the old days people, traders used to come here to pay their taxes hence
it is known as Mandvi.
The Gate is currently used as multiple shrines of different religions. Every
morning there are people and priests who appear to pray to the gods,
goddesses here.
There are speculations of the central arch being used earlier only for the
movement of the royal family and their processions. The Gate sees a lot of
movement within and around it at all times of the day. Being present in the
center of the city gave it the advantage of being ever bustling. It is also used
during festivals.
The gate is surrounded by many commercial and residential complexes from all
four sides. There is a temple, a library, the ASI office, Jamnabai Hospital and
many more buildings surrounding the gate.
Pani gateway rd
Champaner
gateway
rd
Lehripura gateway rd
Gendi
gateway
rd
3. Contextual study
The Mandvi Pavilion lies on the junction of the city area, this makes it a very important landmark, a vantage point for all gates and also it has many important structures
in close vicinity.
Circulation
The movement happens currently not through the gate but around the gate. There is pedestrian movement from both in and around the pavilion whereas the
vehicular movement is strictly navigated from around the structure.
Human Movement
The human movement is not fluid but is restricted using temporary barricades present around the structure often used by the Vadodara city police and traffic police to
control and navigate traffic. The southern and eastern side of the pavilion is open for in and outward movement of the public.
Vehicular Movement
The vehicular movement is strictly from around the structure. Initially the central arch of the pavilion was strictly used for the movement of the King and his entourage.
Other vehicles such as bullock carts, horse carts used to have their movement from other arches or from around the Pavilion.
4. Exploded View
of Mandvi Pavillion
Use of spaces
Mandvi is a pavilion, it was built for the same purpose. The lower spaces were for
collecting octroi tax from the civilians, agrarians and passerby. The upper floors were
used during celebrations and festivals.
Elevations
Spatial study
5. Plans of Mandvi Pavilion
Source: Sumesh Modi, People for Heritage Concern (PHC)
Second Floor
Ground Floor
Typologies of spaces
Since Mandvi is not a Gate the spaces vary in comparison to the Gates we've seen. There are no mezzanine
floors, instead there are smaller rooms and these grow smaller as we climb the structure.
Ground floor: The space is purely arches, there are no doors, windows or walls. There are only columns and
the spaces created by these spaces are very open in nature.
Second floor: Here there is no terrace like open space.
6. First Floor
Third Floor Fourth Floor
First floor: There is a large terrace like space on the first floor and there is a room
centrally placed.
Third floor: The third floor is smaller and is similar to the second floor. and the top
most floor has the
Chhatri : The topmost level has a 'chhatri' or 'umbrella'. Here there is also a clock
that was installed later.
7. Elemental study
Openings
Doors
There are no doors in the lower level of the pavilion, it has 18 arches through which movement is done, currently this movement is strictly pedestrian
movement and no vehicular movement through the structure is allowed. The upper floors have multiple doors but access to them is limited.
Windows
There are no windows, there are only doors on the upper floors.
Arches
There are three arches that are used to pass from the gate but only pedestrian movement through those are allowed.
Inside the gate no visual connection to the mezzanine floor is visible .
Additional ornamentation
There is no other ornamentation when the renovation of the structure had happened during the era of the Marathas.
Elements near
The elements present near the pavilion are railings- simple and efficient to restrict pedestrian movement from the western and northern side of the
structure.