Highly inspiring Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad, India

Dinning hall,Falaknuma Palace,Hyderabad,India. en.wikipedia.org

Falaknuma Palace northern view. en.wikipedia.org

 Hyderabad, now the capital of newly formed state of Telengana is not only one of the old cities in India and is one of the important IT centers in the world outside the Silicon Valley, Calif., Once it was  part of the erstwhile state of Nizam. The sprawling Hyderabad city is close to now defunt Kollur mines of Golconda that produced world famous diamonds such as Kohinoor, Orlov, Dresden, etc. This beautiful city is endowed with numerous tourists spots. one of them being the Charminar located in the center of the city.

Falaknuma Palace, one of the finest palaces in Hyderabad, Telangana, India  and once owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad, is a huge building  on a 32 acre plot in the area called Falaknuma, 5 km from Charminar.  Built by Nawob Viqar-ul-Umra, Prime Minister of  Hyderabad and the uncle and brother-in-law of the Nizam VI, Nawab Mir Mahboob Ali Khan Bahadur, this palace is one of the finest buildings in Hyderabad. perhaps, in entire India and is being visited by lots of tourists every day. Falak-numa means  "Like the Sky" or "Mirror of the Sky" in Urdu.

Falaknuma Palace,Hyderabad,India. www.shaadisaga.com

It took nine solid years to finish this palace, which is a fine example of wonderful architecture of Tudor and Italian style with lots of color glass works.   The building work started on March 03, 1884 by Sir Viqar -  maternal grandson of H.H. Sikandar Jah Bahadur, Nizam lll of Hyderabad who laid the first foundation stone.  In December, 1890 Sir Viqar moved into the palace that included  Zenana Mehal, and harem quarters.

.Mumbai Enthusiasts Showcase Vintage Cars at Falaknuma palace, Hyderabad. www.newindianexpress.com

 Built and furnished by Amir e Paigah Sir Viqar Ul Umra at a cost of forty Lakh rupees, a huge amount in those days.  Sir Viqar had a vast estate (frequently referred to as a state within the state), and  fat revenue  more than that of a 15 gun salute state. So he felt compelled to build a prestigious palace worth his  name and affluence. As he was short of money to complete the project, he borrowed money from the Bank of Bengal  to finish his fantasy project!!   In the spring of 1897, Mehboob  Ali Pasha Nizam VI, the Nizam  on a visit to this palace for just a brief stay,  was so  much captivated by the lavish beauty and artistic works of this palace,  he extended his stay for a few days and ultimately decided to stay there for good. Further, the wife of Sir Viqar happened to be the older sister of the Nizam. Sensing the Nizam's heart set on this amazing palace, Sir Viqar offered the palace as  a Nizar to the Nizam who accepted it and paid   a substantial sum. Some historians claim the Nizam  paid only half of the cost.  The Nizam used the palace as a royal guest house as it had a commanding view of the entire city. In fact he developed an obsession for this tastefully designed palace that brings out the affluence of the Nizam family.

Falaknuma Palace,Hyderabad.www.thecityguide.in

 The following are the amazing facts of this prestigious palace  and every piece of work here speaks volume of the dream  and vision of the builder, his capacity to accomplish it and the technical expertise of the designer and skilled workers to covert the vision in to reality - what is considered  to be a tough job:

Taj Falaknuma Palace Hyderabad ,India. www.ampersandtravel.com

 01. Fine dining hall where100 guests  can be seated comfortably at the table; the  Rosewood chairs with green leather upholstery. The tableware is made of gold and crystal to which fluted music was added. The length of the table is whooping 108 feet, and breadth is 5.7 feet and height is 2.7 feet.

02. The palace has rare jade collection  and  is believed to be  one of the finest  in the world.

03. The state reception room is an impressive one with well decorated ceiling; the beautiful frescoes and gilded reliefs highlight it.

04. The ball room is meant for entertaining foreign dignitaries, in particular, British officers. The unique feature of  the ball room is it has  two-ton manually operated organ said to be the only one of its kind in the world.

05. There are 60 lavishly decorated rooms and 22 spacious halls, having some of the finest collections of the Nizam treasure, including  a vast collection of rare treasures - paintings, statues, furniture, manuscripts and books.

The library.
Falaknuma Palace,Hyderabad, , India,en.wikipedia.org

06. The palace is self-contended with a fine library that has a good collection of the holy book of the Quran.  Built on the model of  Windsor Castle,  the library is characteristic of  tastefully carved walnut roof.

07. The residential part of the palace is on the ground floor with a stair way leading to the first floor. The attraction here is the marbled stairway has  carved balustrades, which support marble figurines with candelabra at certain  intervals.

08. The palace has indoor entertainment space with a Billiard room. Here the guests could also  use it as a pool table and play games of their choice. 

09. Palace is known to have  the largest collection of Venetian chandeliers, with 40 138-arm Osler chandeliers in the halls.

10. It was in 1883 the telephone and electrical system was introduced   and the palace has one of the largest electrical switchboards in India.

11. The palace was open to public in 2000 and is a private property of the Nizam family.

The palace is converted into a hotel under the management of the Taj group (owned by the Tata company) and the company did necessary renovation to keep up the legacy and prestige of the Nizam, without disturbing its heritage value.

Ref:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falaknuma_Palace