The Sardar Patel National Memorial is housed in the Moti Shahi Mahal, an early 17th-century pleasure palace built by Mughal prince Shahjahan when he was governor of Gujarat. The palace is set in formal Persian-style gardens in the Shahibaug neighbourhood. The museum on the upper floors traces the life of Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Home Minister and the man who knit together the 562 princely states into the modern Indian republic.
Patel was from a Gujarati farming family from nearby Karamsad. The collection includes his letters, his typewriter, his sparse personal possessions, and photographs of the 1947 Partition negotiations. The garden is open and free; the museum charges a small admission. Closed Mondays.