Bangalore Palace 

During my recent visit to Bangalore, I made a trip to the Bangalore palace. I’ve been to Bangalore often, and visited many places there but I never had the oppurtunity to visit the Bangalore Palace. I’ve never been to the Mysore Palace, so this would be some consolation. 

The Bangalore Palace is the other palace of Srikantadatta Wodeyar, the scion of the Mysore Dynasty, who also presides over the Mysore Palace. The palace was built by Chamaraja Wodeyar, Maharaja of Mysore in 1887.

The Maharaja got his inspirations from the Windsor castle during his visit to England.  The castle is built in Tudor style, complete with Gothic windows, fortified towers, battlements and turrets. The palace is built on the land originally owned by Reverend Garrett. 

 True the Bangalore Palace is ”relatively” compact, and not as grandiose as the Mysore palace, but it is certainly regal and befitting royalty. 

The Bangalore palace is open to the general public, and by paying a fee of Rs. 100, you can get a guided tour of the palace. You can take photographs of the palace and the place by paying Rs. 500, though I think its a bit expensive. Apparently the fee accumulated is used to maintain the palace.

After paying the fee, we were assigned a guide who showed us around the palace. The western influence is apparent not just in the architecture, but also the decorations and other elements.

The palace walls are strewn with photographs and paintings done over the decades. The paintings were western in style, and female nudity was the central theme of most paintings. There is also a haunting portrait of a beautiful Indian lady, and what is interesting about the painting is that the eyes follow you.  We were taken through the various rooms of the Queen, and given a glimpse of royal resplendent life. Some of the furniture used by Queen is still intact, though the upholstery had deteriorated.

At the moment, only one part of the palace is open to visitors; the other part is used as residence by the King, and also houses his offices.

Overlooking the palace is a garden spread across a vast stretch of land. It used to be better maintained in the past, but for lack of resources it is not as beautiful as it used to be.

As we left the palace, I couldn’t help but wonder about the splendour, opulence and excesses of royalty. Having stayed in small PG rooms, and apartments over the past  few years, those palatial rooms were overwhelming to me.

It is interesting though, that the Maharaja said in an interview that the Bangalore palace had smaller, compact rooms! Wonder what he would say about my room!