Mysore Palace

Karnataka

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Mysore Palace : The southeastern quarter and the domes

This is the central piece of Mysore's attractions. The sprawling Mysore Palace is located in the heart of Mysore city. Rather the roads out of Mysore city appears radiating from the palace.

The interior of Mysore Palace is richly carved, intricate, colorful and architecturally thrilling. It is from this palace the erstwhile rulers , the Wodeyars, ruled the Mysore Kingdom.

Though Mysore is often referred to as the "City of Palaces", the term Mysore Palace refers to the largest and the most opulent of all its surviving palaces located in the city center.

Mysore Palace as it is has history of more than 500 years. But what you see now in Mysore is the modern palace built in 1912. As mentioned earlier the first palace was built during 14th century by the then Wodeyar kings.

After the fall of Vijayanagar , and the subsequent power shifts in the region, Raja Wodeyar moved the capital to Sri Rangapatna from Mysore in 1610. The palace in Mysore however continued to serve as a royal residence.

During the regime of Raja Wodeyar II in 1638 the original palace got damaged by a lightning strike. It was repaired and extended later.

Again in 1803 during the regime of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III a new palace was built, after demolishing the old palace. In 1897 during the wedding of Princess Jayalakshmanni this palace got fully destroyed in a fire. Majority of its structure was made with wood that caused it complete destruction. You can see the model of this palace as one of the items on display inside the palace museum during very first lap of the tour.

Mysore Palace : Under illumination

Vani Vilas Sannidhana , the then ruler ( queen of Chamaraja Wodeyar X ) commissioned Henry Irwin, a renowned architect of British India to design the modern Mysore palace. This is what you see now as Mysore Palace. It took about 5 years to build and combines a range of architectural styles. This concept is popularly known as Indo-Saracenic style. One can see a pleasant blend of Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, and Gothic styles of architectural elements.

The palace is basically a three storied structure with a 44 meter ( 145 feet ) central tower. Pinkish marble domes adorn the number of towers configured in perfect symmetry.

The first attraction is the Doll Pavilion as you enter the museum. Antiques made of gold, silver, marble , ivory from around the world are on display. Some of them as old as 900 years.

The central portion of the palace is a huge court open to the sky. Beyond is the royal Marriage Hall (Kalyana Mantapa ) , the most awe-inspiring portion of the palace. The five storied tower of the palace makes a majestic dome over this hall.

The walls along the corridors are decorated with oil paintings of royal themes. A host of ceremonies and festivals of the bygone era is depicted in these painting in all its vividness and details.

Mysore Palace Map . Click for a larger Mysore Palace Route map

Visiting the Palace : Palace is open for visitors on all the days. In other words there is no weekly off for the palace.

There are two themes as far as visiting the palace is concerned. During the day time visitors are allowed to visit the palace building. That is museum inside of the palace.

In the evening visitors throng the palace area to see it under the floodlight .

On the weekend ( Sundays 7 PM to 8 PM ) what appears to be a million lamps ( 97,000 bulbs, to be precise! ) silhouetting the palace is switched on. Also on national holidays and state festivals this special illumination is kept on from 7 PM to 8 PM. During Dasare festival season this illumination is kept on on a daily basis and also for longer duration.

Mysore Palace : The gateway to the Sweta Varahaswami Temple and also the southern gateway to the palace compound can be seen. In the background is the Chamundi Hill

Visiting hours for the palace museum is from 10 AM to 5.30 PM. Ticket counter is adjacent to the entry point. That is the south gate. The parking area too are located near this gate.

Camera is not allowed inside the palace buildings. Mobile phones need to be switched off. However you can take photograph the palace from within the palace campus. There is a camera locker facility within the compound. This kiosk appears on your right after you buy the entry ticket and enter through the gate into the palace campus. Rate is Rs5 per camera. They lock the camera and give you the vault key along with the coupon. See to that you collect back the camera before 5.30 PM.

From here it's a 5 minutes walk to the palace proper. If you need guides, hire on this way. As you enter the palace building you've to leave your footwear at the shoe counter and collect the coupon.

Beyond is the place where they ask for the entry ticket. In the immediate vicinity is the kiosk where the audio tour gadget can be hired. Audio tour is available in Kannada, Hindi, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese languages. At strategic points audio tour signboards are placed with specific serial numbers displayed on it.

You need to play that number in your audio tour player, where you listen narration highlighting the corresponding landmark/object.

The audio tour gadget is similar to a walkman or a ipod with a headphone. Fee for the audio tour is Rs100 ( Indian nationals) / Rs200 ( foreign visitors).

There's no time limit on how long you can take for the tour. The only limitation is the opening and closing visiting hours.

Beyond the first palace tour is the second palace. This is the residential palace, much smaller and more human in scale. You've to buy ticket again for the residential palace tour.

After this you can pick your footwear from the shoe stand and collect camera , if you have it deposited with the locker. Now you are free to tour the palace campus.

Other attractions inside the palace compound include the many temples within the palace, the open gallery where many ancient artefacts are on display, the silk showroom , the garden and the souvenir shop. Of course there is small elephant and camel safari option too if you are game for it.

Access: As mentioned earlier, Mysore palace is located right in the heart of the city. The city bus stand is located at a corner of the palace. In fact the Myosre city bus stand and the palace share a common wall.

The mufesal bus stand - the KSRTC Bus Stand - from where long distance buses are operated is located at couple of kilometers away from the palace.

In fact it is possible to walk from the bus stand to the north gate and the east gate of the palace. Its about 1 kilometer(½ mile ). The south gate is another 1 kilometer (½ mile ). Note that the ticket counter is located at the south gate. A road and a footpath goes around the outer wall of the palace compound.

From the bus stand area to the palace ticket counter it is about 15 minutes ( Rs 15 to 25) ride by an auto rickshaw.

The Mysore railway station is relatively far from the palace, with respect to the bus stand ( 2½ km /1½ mile ). Hire an auto rickshaw to the palace. Or you can even catch a city bus to the palace locality.



For more on access to Mysore, see the page : How to reach Mysore ?

Mysore city is well connected by other major towns and cities of Karnataka by train and bus. Also there are frequent interstate bus services from Mysore to many cities of Tamilnadu and Kerala.

Bangalore to Mysore is a well connected and busy route.

There are no regular air connectivity to Mysore, though it has a small airstrip. Once its modernisation work is completed , there would be regular flight connection to Mysore.

Note : The info given here may not be updated and complete. Use this only for basic reference. While every care is taken, www.hampi.in do not guarantee the accuracy of information provided here. For more accurate and updated information, consult the official sources

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