Popular Palaces In India

The Lakshmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, was constructed by the Gaekwad family, a prominent Maratha family, who ruled the Baroda State. Major Charles Mant was credited to be the main architect of the palace.Lakshmi Vilas Palace was styled on the Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1890 at a cost of £180,000 (₹27,00,000).

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The Mysore Palace is a historical palace and the royal residence at Mysore in the Indian State of Karnataka. It is the official residence of the Wadiyar dynasty and the seat of the Kingdom of Mysore. The palace is in the centre of Mysore, and faces the Chamundi Hills eastward. Mysore is commonly described as the ‘City of Palaces’, and there are seven palaces including this one; however, ‘Mysore Palace’ refers specifically to this one within the Old fort.
The land on which the palace now stands was originally known as puragiri (literally, citadel), and is now known as the Old Fort. Yaduraya built the first palace inside the Old Fort in the 14th century, which was demolished and constructed multiple times. The current structure was constructed between 1897 and 1912, after the Old Palace was burnt ablaze.
Mysore Palace is now one of the most famous tourist attractions in India, after the Taj Mahal, with more than 6 million annual visitors.

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Lake Palace (formally known as Jag Niwas) is a former summer palace of the royal dynasty of Mewar, now turned into a hotel. The Lake Palace is located on the island of Jag Niwas in Lake Pichola, Udaipur, India, and its natural foundation spans 4 acres (16,000 m2). The Lake Palace was built between 1743 and 1746 under the direction of the Maharana Jagat Singh II (62nd successor to the royal dynasty of Mewar) of Udaipur, Rajasthan as a summer palace. It was initially called Jagniwas or Jan Niwas after its founder.

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Umaid Bhawan Palace, located in Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India, is one of the world’s largest private residences. A part of the palace is managed by Taj Hotels. Named after Maharaja Umaid Singh, grandfather of the present owner Gaj Singh. The palace has 347 rooms and is the principal residence of the former Jodhpur royal family. A part of the palace is a museum.
Ground for the foundations of the building was broken on 18 November 1929 by Maharaja Umaid Singh and the construction work was completed in 1943.
Recently, Umaid Bhawan Palace was awarded as the World’s best hotel at the Traveller’s Choice Award, which was organised by TripAdvisor.

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Amer Fort or Amber Fort is a fort located in Amer, Rajasthan, India. Amer is a town with an area of 4 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi) located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. The town of Amer and the Amber Fort were originally built by the Meenas, {{|date=August 2020}} and later it was ruled by Raja Man Singh I. Located high on a hill, it is the principal tourist attraction in Jaipur. Amer Fort is known for its artistic style elements. With its large ramparts and series of gates and cobbled paths, the fort overlooks Maota Lake, which is the main source of water for the Amer Palace.
Mughal architecture greatly influenced the architectural style of several buildings of the fort. Constructed of red sandstone and marble, the attractive, opulent palace is laid out on four levels, each with a courtyard. It consists of the Diwan-e-Aam, or “Hall of Public Audience”, the Diwan-e-Khas, or “Hall of Private Audience”, the Sheesh Mahal (mirror palace), or Jai Mandir, and the Sukh Niwas where a cool climate is artificially created by winds that blow over a water cascade within the palace. Hence, the Amer Fort is also popularly known as the Amer Palace. The palace was the residence of the Rajput Maharajas and their families. At the entrance to the palace near the fort’s Ganesh Gate, there is a temple dedicated to Shila Devi, a goddess of the Chaitanya cult, which was given to Raja Man Singh when he defeated the Raja of Jessore, Bengal in 1604. (Jessore is now in Bangladesh). Raja Man Singh had 12 queens so he made 12 rooms, one for each Queen. Each room had a staircase connected to the King’s room but the Queens were not to go upstairs. Raja Jai Singh had only one queen so he built one room equal to three old queen’s rooms.

This palace, along with Jaigarh Fort, is located immediately above on the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles) of the same Aravalli range of hills. The palace and Jaigarh Fort are considered one complex, as the two are connected by a subterranean passage. This passage was meant as an escape route in times of war to enable the royal family members and others in the Amer Fort to shift to the more redoubtable Jaigarh Fort. Annual tourist visitation to the Amer Palace was reported by the Superintendent of the Department of Archaeology and Museums as 5000 visitors a day, with 1.4 million visitors during 2007. At the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2013, Amer Fort, along with five other forts of Rajasthan, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the group Hill Forts of Rajasthan.

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The Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan is the former residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur located 5 miles (8.0 km) outside the walls of the city of Jaipur on Bhawani Singh road.

The first building on the site was a garden house built in 1835 for the wet nurse of prince Ram Singh II. In 1887, during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh, it was converted into a modest royal hunting lodge, as the house was located in the midst of a thick forest at that time. In the early 20th century, it was expanded into a palace to the designs of Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob. Maharajah Sawai Man Singh II made Rambagh his principal residence and added a number of royal suites in 1931. It is now operated as a five-star hotel by the Taj Hotels Group.

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Padmanabhapuram Palace, also known as Kalkulam Palace, is a Travancore era palace located in Padmanabhapuram in the Kanyakumari district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The palace is owned, controlled and maintained by the government of the neighbouring state of Kerala.
Padmanabhapuram is the former capital city of the erstwhile Hindu kingdom of Travancore. It is around 20km from Nagercoil, 39km from Kanyakumari town and 52 km from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. The palace is complex inside with an old granite fortress around four kilometers long. The palace is located at the foot of the Veli Hills, which forms a part of the Western Ghats. The river Valli flows nearby.
Another palace known as Kuttalam Palace is situated in Kuttalam in Tenkasi, Thirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu which is also under the ownership of Kerala government. It is situated in the Tenkasi, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu (before state reorganisation, Kanyakumari District, Chenkottah Taluk, Tenkasi Taluk including the areas of Kuttalam are in the control of Travancore Kingdom in Kerala). It is owned, controlled and maintained by the Kerala Government.

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The Monsoon Palace, also known as the Sajjan Garh Palace, is a hilltop palatial residence in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan in India, overlooking the Fateh Sagar Lake. It is named Sajjangarh after Maharana Sajjan Singh (1874–1884) of the Mewar Dynasty, who it was built for in 1884. The palace offers a panoramic view of the city’s lakes, palaces and surrounding countryside. It was built chiefly to watch the monsoon clouds; hence, appropriately, it is popularly known as Monsoon Palace. It is said that the Maharana built it at the top of the hill to get a view of his ancestral home, Chittorgarh. Previously owned by the Mewar royal family, it is now under the control of the Forest Department of the Government of Rajasthan and has recently been opened to the public. The palace provides a beautiful view of the sunset.Its builder, Maharana Sajjan Singh, originally planned to make it a five-storey astronomical centre. The plan was cancelled with Maharana Sajjan Singh’s premature death. It was then turned into a monsoon palace and hunting lodge.High in the Aravalli Hills, just outside Udaipur, the Palace is illuminated in the evenings, giving a golden orange glow (see image in the infobox).
The palace was used in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy as the residence of Kamal Khan, an exiled Afghan prince.

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Marble Palace is a palatial nineteenth-century mansion in North Kolkata. It is located at 46, Muktaram Babu Street, Kolkata 700007. It is one of the best-preserved and most elegant houses of nineteenth-century Calcutta. The mansion is famous for its marble walls, floors, and sculptures, from which it derives its name.

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Falaknuma is a palace in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It originally belonged to the Paigah family, and was later owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad. It is on a hillock and covers a 13-hectare (32-acre) area in Falaknuma, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Charminar.
It was built by Nawab Sir Viqar-ul-Umra, Prime Minister of Hyderabad and the uncle & brother-in-law of the sixth Nizam. Falak-numa means “Like the Sky” or “Mirror of Sky” in Urdu.

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Chowmahalla Palace or Chowmahallat (from chār mahallāt, lit. “four palaces” in Dakhini Urdu) is the palace of the Nizams of Hyderabad State in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was the seat of the Asaf Jahi dynasty and was the official residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad while they ruled their state. The palace was built by Nizam Salabat Jung. The palace remains the property of Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah, heir of the Nizams. Other members of the Hyderabadi Nizam family have also wed here.The word chār or chahār, and its variation chow, means “four” and the word mahal means “palace” in Urdu, Hindi and Persian. All ceremonial functions including the accession of the Nizams and receptions for the Governor-General were held at this palace.
The UNESCO Asia Pacific Merit award for cultural heritage conservation was presented to Chowmahalla Palace on 15 March 2010. UNESCO representative Takahiko Makino formally handed over the plaque and certificate to Princess Esra, former wife and GPA holder of Prince Mukarram Jah Bahadur.

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Cooch Behar Palace, also called the Victor Jubilee Palace, is a landmark in Cooch Behar city, West Bengal. It was modeled after the Buckingham Palace in London in 1887, during the reign of Maharaja Nripendra Narayan of Koch dynasty.
The Cooch Behar Palace, noted for its elegance and grandeur, is a property of The Mantri’s. It is a brick-built double-story structure in the classical Western style covering an area of 51,309 square feet (4,766.8 m2). The whole structure is 395 feet (120 m) long and 296 feet (90 m) wide and is on rests 4 feet 9 inches (1.45 m) above the ground. The Palace is fronted on the ground and first floors by a series of arcaded verandahs with their piers arranged alternately in single and double rows.
At the southern and northern ends, the Palace projects slightly and in the centre is a projected porch providing an entrance to the Durbar Hall. The Hall has an elegantly shaped metal dome which is topped by a cylindrical louver type ventilator. This is 124 feet (38 m) high from the ground and is in the style of the Renaissance architecture. The intros of the dome is carved in stepped patterns and Corinthian columns support the base of the cupola. This adds variegated colours and designs to the entire surface. There are various halls in the palace and rooms that include the Dressing Room, Bed Room, Drawing Room, Dining Hall, Billiard hall, Library, Toshakhana, Ladies Gallery and Vestibules. The articles and precious objects that these rooms and halls used to contain are now lost.
The original palace was 3 storeyed, but was subsequently destroyed by the 1897 Assam earthquake.
The palace shows the acceptance of European idealism of the cooch kings and the fact that they had embraced European culture without denouncing their Indian heritage.According to the List of Monuments of National Importance in West Bengal the Cooch Behar Palace is a monument of national importance.

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The Jai Vilas Mahal, also known as the Jai Vilas Palace, is a nineteenth century palace in Gwalior, India. It was established in 1874 by Maharajadhiraj Shrimant Jayajirao Scindia Alijah Bahadur, the Maharaja of Gwalior. While the major part of the palace is now the “Jiwajirao Scindia Museum” opened to the public in 1964, a part of it is still the residence of his descendants the former royal Maratha Scindia dynasty.
It is a fine example of European architecture, designed and built by Sir Michael Filose. A combination of architectural styles, the first storey is Tuscan, the second Italian-Doric and the third Corinthian. The area of the Jai Vilas palace is 1,240,771 square feet and it is particularly famous for its large Durbar Hall. The interior of the Durbar Hall is decorated with gilt and gold furnishings and adorned with a huge carpet and gigantic chandeliers. It is 100 feet long, 50 feet wide and 41 feet in height.
The palace was described by Sir William Howard Russell in 1877
The Palace covers an area of 124,771 square feet, exclusive of the inner square, which is 321 by 321% feet. The building is double-storied, and the wings and turrets are three- and five-storied. Its total length is 106 feet. The first story is Tuscan, second Italian Doric, and the third Corinthian order of architecture. The interior of the Reception-room is 97 feet 8 inches long by 50 feet broad, and it is 41 feet in height. The roof is arched with stone slabs 21 feet long, which enabled the architect to make the ribs prominent. They rest at each end on double Corinthian columns, which form a colonnade round the interior. The interior and exterior of the Palace form a combination of arcades and colonnades. Upwards of 300,000 leaves of gold were‘used to decorate the Reception-hall. The Grand Staircase-room is roofed with stone slabs 30 feet long; the room opposite to it is roofed in the same way. This room was used for dancing. The length of each of these rooms is 50 feet. The Grand Drawing-room, one of the finest saloons in the world, is hung with wonderful chandeliers, and decorated with enormous mirrors. The Prince’s bedstead, washing service, and bath were of solid silver. The cost of the Palace was a little above 1,100,000 rupees. But the garden-walls, iron railings, gardens, furniture, glass, grand staircase, chandeliers, etc, cost about 500,000 rupees more. The area of the garden is about one square mile; there are several waterfalls and a number of fountains in it.
A large room preserves the desk and photographs of Madhavrao Scindia, who served as the Railway Minister of India. Many of the rooms, including drawing rooms, bed rooms and bath rooms, have been preserved just as they were lavishly decorated for the royal family. The royal kitchen, with its furnaces, pots, china etc have been preserved.
Supposedly, eight elephants were suspended from the durbar (royal court) hall ceiling to check it could cope with two 12.5m-high, 3.5-tonne chandeliers with 250 light bulbs, said to be the largest pair in the world.

Unusual items fill many rooms: cut-glass furniture, stuffed tigers and a ladies-only swimming pool with its own boat. The cavernous dining room displays the pièce de résistance, a model silver train that carried after-dinner brandy and cigars around the table. In contrast to the western style dining room, a completely Indian style dining room is also preserved, which was used when the Maratha nobles were invited.
The museum preserves the memory of the humble origin of Scindia (spelled in Hindi/Marathi Shinde) from the Kanherkhed village in Maharashtra. The family left its ancestral village in 1726, however it has continued to preserve its Maratha heritage. On special occasions, the Scindia family members still wear the Maratha style (Shineshahi pagdi) turban which uses 60 meters of Chanderi silk, with pointed ends. An exhibit at the museam explains the intricate steps involved in wrapping the special turban.

A notable historical item is the planquin gifted by Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, who was restored to the throne by Mahadaji Scindia in 1787. A Rohilla courtier, Ghulam Qadir, had acquired control of Delhi. He humiliated the Mughal royal family and blinded the emperor Shah Alam II. The tragic event is described by a poem of Allama Iqbal. Mahadaji Scindia came to the Mughal familys rescue and captured Ghulam Qadir, and became the de facto ruler of Delhi. It attests to the power of Mahadaji Scindia who is occasionally times regarded by historians as the third most important personality in Maratha history, after Shivaji and Peshwa Bajirao.

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Bangalore Palace is a royal palace located in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, in an area that was owned by Rev. J. Garrett, the first principal of the Central High School in Bangalore, now famous as Central College. The commencement of the construction of the palace is attributed to him.

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King Kothi Palace or Nazri Bagh Palace is a royal palace in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was the palace where the erstwhile ruler of Hyderabad State, Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan, lived.

Initially, Kamal Khan constructed this palace for his personal residence: Thus, the main gate, passerby corridors, windows and doors were engraved with the sign of “KK”. Later when Nizam purchased this palace, the young Nizam felt against his pride to have the abbreviations of other nawabs; he passed a firman and changed the abbreviation “KK” to “King Kothi,” meaning king’s mansion. Thus the name King Kothi came into existence.

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The Lalitha Mahal is the second largest palace in Mysore. It is located near the Chamundi Hills, east of the city of Mysore in the Indian state of Karnataka. The palace was built in 1921 at the orders of His Highness Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore for the exclusive stay of the Viceroy of India. Built on a raised ground, the palace was fashioned on the lines of the St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and is one of the imposing structures of the Mysore city.The elegant palace is painted pure white. It was converted into a heritage hotel in 1974. It was run as a part of the Ashok Group of the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) under the Government of India until 2018 when it was transferred to a unit of the Government of Karnataka. However, a veneer of the original royal ambience of the palace is maintained.

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Jal Mahal is a palace in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur city, the capital of the state of Rajasthan, India. The palace and the lake around it were renovated and enlarged in the 18th century by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Amber.

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Bolgatty Palace is a former palace built by the Dutch in India on Bolgatty Island in Kochi, Kerala. One of the oldest existing Dutch palaces outside Holland, this quaint mansion was built in 1744 by Dutch traders and later extended and gardens were landscaped around it. The building was then the Governor’s palace for the commander of Dutch Malabar, and in 1909 was leased to the British. It served as the home of the British governors, being the seat of the British Resident of Cochin during the British Raj.
In 1947, when India attained independence, the palace became the property of the state and was converted into a heritage hotel resort. Bolgatty Palace has a swimming pool, 9-hole golf course, ayurvedic centre, and daily Kathakali performances and is a holiday destination for tourists. There is in a temple dedicated to Shiva that is the first of its kind in Kerala.The best time to visit the Bolgatty Palace would be from October to April since Kochi would have wonderful weather during this time.

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Jaganmohan Palace is a palace in the city of Mysore, India. Its construction was completed in 1861 and was initially used by the Wodeyars, kings of Mysore as their home (when the present Mysore Palace (Amba Vilas Palace) was under construction after the previous palace burned down). It is now used as an art gallery and a function hall. The palace is one of the seven palaces of the royal city of Mysore.

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The Palace of Kangla is an old palace at Imphal in the Manipur state of India. It was situated on both sides (western and eastern) of the bank of the Imphal River. But now it remains only on the western side of the bank. Only the ruins remain now. Kangla means “dry land” in old Meetei. It was the traditional seat of the past Meetei rulers of Manipur.

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Kowdiar Palace in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India was built in 1934 by Maharajah Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, on Pallikettu (wedding) of his only sister, Maharani Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi with Lt. Col. G. V. Raja. After the Constitutional Amendment of 1971, the properties and estates of the royal family were partitioned and divided equally among the branches of the two Travancore Queens, Sethu Lakshmi Bayi and Sethu Parvathi Bayi. This Palace belongs to the heirs of Sethu Parvathi Bayi as it was built by her son Maharajah Sree Chithira Thirunal.Kowdiar Palace’s architectural work is famous and has over 150 rooms. The entry to this palace is restricted as it is the private residence of the royal family settled in Thiruvananthapuram.

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Matia Mahal located at Hindaun in Rajasthan, India, is an ancient heritage of Hindaun. This magnificent building is about 150 feet long, 150 feet wide. This building is made of red sandstone. This is a three-story building. The people believe that soil and stone have been used in the past and it was constructed by a person named Matia and named after it was Matia Mahal.
But to study the structure inside it, it is known that the building was a horse of the fortress of horses here. The texture is similar to the horse. Here also the signs of binding elephants are clearly visible. The main door is very high but the entrance door is also high so that elephants can get out of comfort. In this case, the living rooms of the sepoys remained. There is a place beside it, which is probably the place of residence of horses and elephants.
it is a very ancient castle. It is a very beautiful palace, but at this time this situation is very bad. This is a focusing building, it can be a good attraction for tourism, the palace is a special thing that it is made of red sandstone.

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The Ujjayanta Palace is a museum and the former palace of the Kingdom of Tripura situated in Agartala, which is now the capital of the Indian state of Tripura. The palace was constructed between 1899 and 1901 by Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya Debbarma and stands on the banks of two lakes surrounded by gardens inspired by the Mughal style . It was the home of the ruling Manikya dynasty until Tripura’s merger into India in October 1949. The palace was purchased from the royal family by the Government of Tripura in 1972–73 for Rs. 2.5 million, and used to house the State Legislative Assembly until July 2011. Ujjayanta Palace is now a State Museum and it primarily showcases the lifestyle, arts, culture, tradition and utility crafts of communities residing in northeast India, along with a lot of stone sculptures, coinage of the Manikya dynasty and some other artefacts.

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Lalgarh Palace is a palace and heritage hotel in Bikaner in the Indian state of Rajasthan, built for Sir Ganga Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner, between 1902 and 1926. Laxmi Niwas Palace is a part of Lalgarh Palace but it has been given on lease and recently is being used as a heritage hotel.

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Hawa Mahal is a palace in Jaipur, India approximately 300 kilometers from the capital city of Delhi. Built from red and pink sandstone, the palace sits on the edge of the City Palace, Jaipur, and extends to the Zenana, or women’s chambers.
The structure was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, the grandson of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, who was the founder of Jaipur. He was so inspired by the unique structure of Khetri Mahal that he built this grand and historical palace. It was designed by Lal Chand Ustad. Its five floor exterior is akin to honeycomb with its 953 small windows called Jharokhas decorated with intricate latticework. The original intent of the lattice design was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life and festivals celebrated in the street below without being seen, since they had to obey the strict rules of “purdah”, which forbade them from appearing in public without face coverings. This architectural feature also allowed cool air from the Venturi effect to pass through, thus making the whole area more pleasant during the high temperatures in summer. Many people see the Hawa Mahal from the street view and think it is the front of the palace, but it is the back.In 2006, renovation works on the Mahal were undertaken, after a gap of 50 years, to give a facelift to the monument at an estimated cost of Rs 4.568 million. The corporate sector lent a hand to preserve the historical monuments of Jaipur and the Unit Trust of India has adopted Hawa Mahal to maintain it.
The palace is an extended part of a huge complex. The stone-carved screens, small casements, and arched roofs are some of the features of this popular tourist spot. The monument also has delicately modeled hanging cornices.

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Purani Haveli also known as Masarrat Mahal palace is a palace located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was the official residence of the Nizam. It was also known as Haveli Khadeem, which means old mansion, was constructed for Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III (1803–1829) by his father Ali Khan Bahadur, Asaf Jah II.

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Shakthan Thampuran Palace is situated in City of Thrissur in Kerala state, India. It is named as Vadakkekara Palace, was reconstructed in Kerala-Dutch style in 1795 by Ramavarma Thampuran of the erstwhile Princely State of Cochin, well as Sakthan Thampuran (Greatest ruler of the Cochin dynasty) is preserved by Archaeological Department. The palace was converted into a museum in 2005 by State.

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