This time when I visited home I was sure to have a lot of free time so was prepared to venture my own city.
Thanks to my dad for arranging a free visit in the palace and a special thanks to Mr. Jadhav who was an excellent guide all thru out my visit.
Laxmi Vilas Palace, is an amazing sructure of the Indo-Saracenic school, which was built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1890. It had cost him GBP180,000 back then. Major Charles Mant was the architect. The Palace "compound" is spread over 700 acres. It has 186 rooms and still king with his family still stays here.
On left, The Maharaja entrance, meant only for king and his fellow mates and on right Maharani entrance, only for ladies. I was surprised to know that this custom is still follwed by the family.
Two public entrances which directly leads into Darbar hall where king use to address his people. These days the hall is most commonly used for music concerts and other cultural events.
If you see all the four entrances closely you'll see each one of them symbolizing the 4 major religions in India. Maharaja entrance looks like a Gurudwara, Maharani like a Temple, Public entrance on left is like a church and one on the right is like Mosque. This is only palace in India that has combination of all, king was thoughtful enough to not hurt anyone's sentiments.
Further, this is the only place in the world where you will find most of Raja Ravi Verma's paintings. It is said that Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad admired his paintings and offered him space to bring out his most inner most thoughts on canvas. Photography was prohibited in this area but its a must see for anyone who visit Vadodara.
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