The palace was built in the early 20th century by Maharaja Kumar Gopal Lal Roy. It took about 10 years. Maharaja Gopal Roy was a Hindu and a goldsmith by profession. The area is said to be called Tajhat because of its mesmerizing 'taj' or crown.[1]
From 1984 to 1991 AD, the palace was used as a branch or bench of the Rangpur High Court, Bangladesh Supreme Court. President Ershad set up regional benches of the High Court of Bangladesh in different district headquarters of the country with the aim of decentralizing the judiciary, one of which was established in Rangpur. Later, after the establishment of democratic government in 1991 AD, this system was abolished. In 1995, the Archeology Department of the Government of Bangladesh declared the palace as a protected structure and architecture. The Bangladesh government realized the historical importance of this architecture: in 2005, the Rangpur Museum was moved to the second floor of the palace.
Up the marble staircase to the museum are several exhibition rooms containing terracotta artefacts from the 10th and 11th centuries. There are several ancient manuscripts written in Sanskrit and Arabic. These include the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, along with the Quran from the time of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. In the back room are several black stone portraits of the Hindu god Vishnu. But photography is prohibited inside the museum.
The palace grounds have large empty grounds, rows of trees and two ponds on either side of the palace. The museum can be entered by paying a fixed entrance fee. If you want to enter the palace premises with a car, you have to pay a certain fee for the car.