The City of Palaces, Mysore (now called Mysuru) is steeped in history and is full of beautiful architectural gems. Between the ornate palaces and the regal government buildings there is much to see in Mysore.
Mysore Palace
The most beautiful, and most famous, building is Mysore Palace, home to the Wadiyar Dynasty. This family ruled Mysore from 1399 to 1947 which includes the time of the British reign. When the British ruled India, most other maharajahs had to give up their power, but the Mysore Empire was allowed to remain in government as figureheads. In fact, descendants of the Maharajah still live in one section of the palace today.
Most of the original palace burned down in the 1800s, but a new spectacular one was built on the same spot in 1912. Built in Indo-Saracenic style, Mysore Palace is a gorgeous structure. The main building is built of fine, grey granite with white and yellow accents. With chhatris and pink marble domes on the roof, tall towers, arched doorways and multi-level windows enclosing terraces it is a stunning building.
Inside, the palace rooms are very grand. The most beautiful and likely most photographed room is the Public Durbar Hall. Its perfectly aligned, colourful arches lead your eyes up to a decorated ceiling. It must have impressed visitors beyond belief.
The Public Hall is only slightly more decorated than the Private Durbar Hall and the Marriage Pavilion. These rooms have vaulted ceilings, ornately decorated columns and beautifully tiled floors.
Even the hallways between these rooms are ornate with large, carved wooden doors and colourful tiled designs on the walls. An unusual feature is the large outdoor courtyard where wrestling matches once took place. I assume it wasn’t the elite family doing the wresting.
Back outside, the palace is set inside a manicured gardens with flowering hedges, shrubs and stone walkways. The entire estate is surrounded by a tall stone wall with 4 beautiful arched entry ways, each more beautiful than the last.
There are many Hindu temples within the complex, two are enclosed in the palace wall. The royal family still has a herd of elephants that they keep on the palace grounds. The elephants are only used for parades and festivals, otherwise they stay in the shade and eat. The elephant keeper let us pet one.
Every Sunday night the palace and its entrance gates are illuminated by thousands of lights. The grounds are packed with tourists to see the gorgeous display. We’re used to having to pay an entrance fee at every site we’ve visited on our travels, but the evening light show was free!
Lalitha Mahal
In addition to Mysore Palace, there are many other old palaces in the city. Lalitha Mahal is now a luxury hotel. It was built in renaissance architectural style with large domes on the roof. Around the exterior are double columns surrounding a large terrace. It looks very regal.
Inside, the dining hall is a lovely blue room with a vaulted ceiling and white moldings. It’s the perfect place for lunch or even just a coffee.
Historical Buildings
Throughout the busy city of Mysore, we saw many other historical and colonial buildings that are now being used as government offices and art galleries. Even the traffic circles have lovely centre monuments.
On our walk we came across an unusual scene of street-typists. Although, we shouldn’t have been surprised, as we’ve learned to always expect these peculiar street sites in India.
We were also impressed by how relatively clean it is in Mysore. Later we read that it is one of the top 5 cleanest cities in India.
Chamundeshwari Temple
Chamundi Hill is small hill above Mysore with a large 17th century Hindu Temple. Chamundeshwari Temple has a tall South Indian style tower decorated with many carvings. On the busy grounds around the temple are several statues including Nandi the bull and Mahishasura, a mythical Hindu demon. The legend says that Mahishasura could assume the form of both a human and a buffalo and was the ruler Mysore in ancient times.
There is still a large Christian community in Karnataka evidenced by the massive gothic St. Philomena Cathedral. Its tall spires and cathedral dome are impressive.
To read more of our adventures in India, click here.
Coming up next: Hampi – Ancient Stone City
For extra pics from this trip go to Gallery/Western India. For extra pictures from other blogs go to Gallery at monkeystale.ca
To read about more of our adventures go to Destinations.
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