A free-standing wardrobe or cabinet, the almirah is a piece of household furniture popular in South Asia since the nineteenth century.  Anglicised from the Hindustani word almari — derived via Portuguese from the Latin armarium, meaning ‘cabinet’ or ‘closet’ — the word typically refers to the double-door wardrobe introduced in the Indian subcontinent during colonial rule and used to store both clothes and valuables. Differing from built-in closets or wall cupboards, the almirah is a heavy but movable wardrobe made of wood or steel, typically furnished with shelves and a hanging space for clothes, as well as a mirror and often an internal safe. 

Precursors of the almirah include wooden storage furniture such as the original ‘cupboard’ — a stepped sideboard used to store and display cups since the European Middle Ages; chests such as the sandook; and integrated bedroom units that were mass-produced in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the West. These units featured separate spaces in which clothes could be hung or laid out, in addition to elements such as a chest of drawers, a dresser and a wash-stand, and a mirror fitted on one of the doors. 

The almirah was introduced in the Indian subcontinent presumably during colonial rule in the nineteenth century. Until the mid-twentieth century almirahs were made of wood, often featuring carving and artisanship that reflected local traditions as well as the status of those who commissioned them. Like the sandook, they formed an important household commodity associated with the safekeeping of heirlooms and other valuables, and were an essential component of daaj, or the bridal trousseau. 

In 1923 the Godrej & Boyce company, which had established itself as an indigenous maker of high-quality locks in India, introduced the steel almirah. It contained shelves and a safe within an unassuming grey body, with a mirror installed on the outside of one of the two doors. In 1934, they also patented a fire-resistant version with asbestos cladding and ‘water-generating material’ in their wall chambers, and material innovations that made the unit lighter and more portable than conventional safes. Unlike their wooden predecessors, these steel almirahs required little maintenance and protected their contents from pests, dust, tropical humidity and fire; their innovative steel construction and the quality of the locking mechanism also rendered them largely burglary-proof.