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immense beauty.
Architecture of the City Palace
The palace is overwhelmed with balconies, towers and cupolas
and there are fine views over the lake and the city from the
upper terraces. The interiors of City Palace presents a
graceful beauty due to lavish use of marble, mirror work,
frescoes, wall paintings, colored glass, fluted columns, inlay
work and silver doors. There are many relics and decorative
items in the City Palace. There are beautiful examples of old
porcelain, glass and tiles as well as the wonderful mosaic of
silver leaves and precious stones that reflect images of the
lake when looked at from the right angle.
The City Palace is surrounded by walls for battlements. The
City Palace can be reached through three gateways. The entry
to the palace is from the Hathi Pol or the Elephant gate. At
the entrance to the place museum, there is a genealogical
chart whose floor-to-ceiling immensity traces the rule of the
76 Maharanas of Mewar, from 734 AD. The Bari Pol or the Big
gate brings you to the Tripolia, the Triple gate. It is a
triple arched gate which was built in 1725. It was once a
custom that the Maharana would weigh under this gate in gold
and silver, which was distributed to the populace. Balconies,
cupolas and towers surmount the palace which give a wonderful
view of the Pichola lake. Suraj Gokhada or the balcony of the
sun is the place where the Maharana would grant public
audiences mainly to boost the morale of the people in
difficult times. The Mor Chowk is the peacock square and gains
its name from the vivid blue mosaic in glass of a peacock that
decorates its walls. The rooms of the palace are superbly
decorated with mirror tiles and paintings. The main part of
the palace is now preserved as a museum which displays a large
and diverse array of artifacts like the miniature paintings
embellished with gold and silver leaf, armoury, lithographs,
Danish porcelain, crystal ware, palanquins, howdahs and carry
chairs. The City Palace museum is entered through the Ganesh
Deori meaning the door of Lord Ganesh. The Ganesh Deori leads
to the Rajya Angan, the royal courtyard. Nav Chowki Mahal, is
the oldest section in the palace. This is the place where
Maharana Udai Singh met the saint in 1559 who told him to
found a city and laid the foundation of the palace. The
armoury museum exhibits a huge collection of protective gear,
weapons including the lethal two-pronged sword. The City
Palace consists of four main and several minor palaces. Part
of the complex is a Hawa Mahal. The Palace of Joy or Dilkhusha
Mahal is decorated with frescoes and wall paintings. Manak
Mahal or the Ruby Palace has a lovely collection of glass and
mirror work while Krishna Vilas display a rich collection of
miniature paintings. The Sheesh Mahal, or the palace of
mirrors and glass has beautiful mirror work. The Krishna Vilas
is the most beautiful enclosure with four rows of painted
scenes in miniature. It was here that the beautiful princess,
Krishna Kumari, drank poison and saved the kingdom from the
two kings. The Chini Mahal houses a rich collection of Chinese
porcelain and its niches and jharokas are covered in
blue-and-white Chinese tiles. The Surya Chopar or the Sun
Square depicts a huge ornamental Sun which symbolizes the Sun
dynasty. The Bari Mahal is a central garden with view of the
city. Some more beautiful paintings can be seen in the Zenana
Mahal or the ladies chamber, which leads to Laxmi Vilas Chowk
a beautiful white pavilion. Laxmi Vilas Chowk is an art
gallery, which houses a distinctive collection of Mewar
paintings. The Amar Vilas, the highest point with its hanging
gardens, towers and terraces, presents a majestic and
panoramic view of the town and Lake Pichola. |
