New Delhi

As India and Netherlands elevated their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit, heritage experts and historians from both nations have renewed calls for stronger preservation of Dutch-era architecture in India—pointing to the demolition of Patna Collectorate as a missed opportunity in safeguarding shared cultural history.

Exactly four years after bulldozers brought down the historic Patna landmark on May 17, 2022, conservationists say the loss remains deeply painful. The Collectorate complex, a cluster of structures built during both the Dutch and British periods, once stood as one of the most prominent examples of colonial-era architecture in Patna. Among its most iconic structures was the Record Room building, known for its striking façade supported by grand pillars and regarded as one of the city’s rare surviving examples of Dutch architectural influence.

Despite widespread public protests and years of legal and civic efforts to preserve the site, the landmark was demolished in 2022. The timing of India-Netherlands diplomatic upgrades has now brought the memory of the site back into focus for many historians, architects and members of the Bihar diaspora.

Diptanshu Sinha, a Patna native currently based in Berlin, said the demolition represented far more than the loss of an old government building. According to him, it erased an important symbol of Indo-European cultural connections that could have been restored and repurposed as a cultural hub attracting international visitors.

Sinha, who was actively involved in the Save Historic Patna Collectorate movement for six years, said the site represented a tangible link between India and Europe, particularly the Netherlands, rooted in centuries of trade and cultural exchange. He lamented that instead of restoration and adaptive reuse, the city lost what he described as a “piece of Europe” in Patna.

The demolition also led to the loss of several other historically significant structures within the complex, including the former District Magistrate’s office, the District Engineer’s office, the Sub-Divisional Office, and the Land Requisition Office—some dating back to the Dutch era and others to the British administration.

In compliance with a 2020 order of the Patna High Court, eight pillars from the façade of the Record Room were salvaged before demolition. These pillars are now displayed within the newly constructed collectorate complex inaugurated in 2024.

Lennart Bes, who teaches at Leiden University, expressed hope that the new strategic partnership between India and the Netherlands would result in greater awareness and protection of Dutch-built heritage sites across India. He said the destruction of Patna Collectorate should serve as a lesson for future conservation efforts.

Efforts to save the building had even drawn diplomatic attention. In 2016, then Dutch ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga had written to then Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, describing the Collectorate as a “shared built heritage of India and the Netherlands” and urging the state government to restore rather than demolish it.

Today, only a handful of Dutch-era structures remain in Patna, including parts of Patna College and the old government press at Gulzarbagh. Heritage scholars say preserving these surviving landmarks is now more urgent than ever.

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Patna-based author and researcher Prabuddha Das, co-author of the book Patna: A Monumental History, said the city has already lost an architectural gem and urged authorities to protect whatever remains of Bihar’s built heritage before more chapters of history disappear.