Mysore - Part 3

You can also read Part 1 and Part 2

Continued....

Mysore is a city of palaces, but the most magnificent of them all is the Mysore Palace AKA Amba vilasa and sometimes known as the Main Palace. 

The Palace is situated in the middle of the city and is a reminder of the grandeur of a bygone era and is today an invaluable national treasure. 

The Palace that stands today is the fourth one to be built in the same site. The English architect Henry Irwin designed the new Palace and it was completed in 1912 at a cost of about Rs 41 lakhs. 

The Palace has a number of visually delightful rooms like the portrait gallery, the royal armory, collections of costumes and jewellery, delicately carved doors of mahogany and solid silver, graceful chandeliers, decorative stained glass ceilings, ornamental frescoes. During the Dasara the Royal throne made of 200kgs of pure gold is displayed. On the walls of the Palace the Dasara processions have been painted in such a way that, no matter where and how you stand the procession seems to be heading towards you. 

Mysore Palace is an excellent combination of Dravidian and Roman styles of architecture.  One enters the Palace through the Gombe Thotti or the Doll's Pavilion; this is a pavilion of traditional dolls from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This collection also has a wooden elephant howdah (structure for carrying people on the elephant) that is decorated with 84 kilograms of gold. 

There are seven canons in front of the Gombe Thotti and are used to this day to mark the beginning and the end of the Dasara festivities every year. 

There are twelve temples inside the Palace complex dating from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries and have varying architectural styles. Here are photos of some of them.

Now let me show you around Mysore Palace as seen during Dasara, (These are are photo's taken cold rainy night hope you enjoy the photo's as much as i enjoyed shooting them)

One of the most unforgettable images of the city is the image of the illuminated Mysore Palace against the dark black sky. It takes ninety seven thousand light bulbs to produce this enchanting image of the Palace. 

The main entrance also known as Darwaz-e-khas, this entrace was used by the kings to enter the palace

You get to see this once you enter the site from the main entrance

Lets get a little closer

Now if you turn back you can see the main entrance and one of the temples, there is another temple on the other side of the main entrance

If you stand facing the place this will be the view towards your right, you can see beautifully illuminated temple and another entrance to the palace 

Here's the closer look of the entrance seen in the above picture

there is a huge mirror right next to the entrance, its placed in such a way that you can see the reflection of the full place and the temple's and they appear to be much closer than they actually are... not sure why its placed there, may be for some crazy guy to take a photo of a reflection (ya its me with the black jacket and a army sling bag :), could not position myself correctly to get the full view, there was lot of water on the ground because of the rain )

lets turn back and take another look of the palace, you can also see the other entrance and the temple on the other side of the palace

A closer look of the temple seen above

Now its time to go out of palace and see Mysore on a Dasara Night :)

To be continued.....