Gopi Talav

Gopi Talav, or Gopi Lake, lies in the Gopipura locality of Surat. It was built around 1510 by Malik Gopi, a wealthy Brahmin merchant and governor of Surat under the Gujarat Sultanate, to whom the growth of the city is credited; Gopipura is named after him. Akbar camped beside the lake during his siege of Surat in 1573.

European travellers wrote about it: Peter Mundy in 1628 called it the Great Tank of Surat and admired its workmanship and size, while others noted the steps around it and the house at its centre, and recorded its use for holding rainwater for drinking. Neglected by 1674, it had dried up and fallen into ruin by 1717. The Surat Municipal Corporation renovated the lake in 2012 and redeveloped its surroundings as a recreation area.