The Shah Najaf Imambara is the smaller and quieter of the major imambaras of Lucknow — a low white-domed mausoleum complex built in 1814 by Nawab Ghazi-ud-din Haider as his own future tomb, deliberately modelled on the shrine of Imam Ali at Najaf in Iraq. The Nawab and his queens are buried in the central hall.
Inside, the walls are lined with chandeliers, gilded calligraphy, and silver-and-glass tazias (replicas of Hussain's tomb) carried in procession during Muharram. The garden compound is large, shaded, and almost empty most days. It is on the same north-bank stretch of the Gomti as Sikandar Bagh and the Botanical Research Institute and combines neatly with a visit there.