Monday, January 25, 2010

Scindia Museum, Gwalior

In Gwalior we first visited Jai Vilas Palace also known as Scindia Museum. Built in 1809, as many as 35 rooms of this palace is converted into museum.

In the museum on display are several belongings of the Royal family.
The palace has various rooms each one decorated in its own way with different colors and exquisite furniture.

There is a weapon room displaying some of the weapons used by the Kings and his army. In this room the weapons ranging from swords to guns are on display.

There are two dining rooms in the palace. One is in a traditional style where people sit on the floor and have the food. Other is the western style where food is served on the table. Here there is a silver train with cut glass wagons which served the guests drinks as it chugged long the table on miniature rails.

Dining room
Most fascinating place in the palace is the Durbar Hall. Here ceilings have glittering paintings, heavy draperies and tapestries, fine Persian carpets. In this room there are antique furnitures from France and Italy. There are two central chandeliers, weighing a couple of tonnes. They were hung only after ten elephants had tested the strength of the roof.

Durbar Hall

That covers the tour of the palace/museum.

Next we shall discover the places nearby Gwalior to start with Padavali.


56 comments:

Unspoken said...

I am enthralled as always by your pitures. Enlarged the picts here and the detail is stunning.

Zuzana said...

Ah, what an opulent place. The last picture is magnificent, the ceiling is incredible.
Beautiful tour of a palace.
xo
Zuzana

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Superb! Until I've had a chance to see these brilliant pictures and the wonderful posts that accompany them, I've truly been ignorant of them!

Thank you very much for sharing!

Tarun Mitra said...

:) Delighted to have such great narration with equally good picture..would love to see pictures of few weapons and the train...

jabblog said...

Those chandeliers are magnificent. What caught my imagination was the thought of ten elephants testing the strength of the roof. I have all sorts of images racing through my mind!

myonlyphoto said...

Rajesh thanks for sharing these images. What a beautiful architecture. Anna :)

Beth Niquette said...

So detailed. So ornate. Awesome. Your people are so amazing. And this from an American.

The beauty of your country is sublime.

foto CHIP said...

It looks like a very beautiful and a very interesting place to visite.
Have a nice day/evening :)

Jane Hards Photography said...

Always so interesting to read and see the images from your part of the world, so different to mine.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Rajesh: What a neat place and your information was certainly detailed. How do you get ten elephants on a roof?

Sylvia K said...

What an incredible place, Rajesh! And your photos are fantastic! Wow! Would like to visit that one some day! Have a great week!

Sylvia

Carver said...

What an interesting palace museum and great shots.

Photo Cache said...

the royal families of gone by era lived a lavish lifestyle

www.ewok1993.wordpress.com

Martha Z said...

Another interesting post.

Noel Morata said...

very interesting museum, thanks for posting

Indrani said...

Great shots of the palace , Rajesh.

SandyCarlson said...

What a neat place. Beautiful.

Maude Lynn said...

What an amazing place to visit!

Lowell said...

Rather incredible but certainly beautiful! Reminds me a little bit of Versailles!

Ebie said...

Lavish but exquisite!

Mark Kreider said...

Such a very amazing place... the wonders of India never cease to please me with their deep culture and art. My America has centuries of work to do to get there.

magiceye said...

would be such a delight to visit and experience! thank you for the virtual tour

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY!

penny said...

Your photos are wonderful. You live in a beautiful world full of interesting places, Rajesh

LadyFi said...

Fascinating. Thanks for the tour1

Victoria Tsavdaridou said...

Great museum, thanks for sharing!!!!

Anonymous said...

I love travelling but not lucky enough to travel but will be frequenting your blog from now onwards ;)
Happy Republic Day!

Regina said...

I love museums. Those are awesome!
Thanks for sharing again your side of the world.

Wolynski said...

That last photo is opulent. I know it's cultural, but eating at a table is so much more comfortable than eating on the floor.
Great photos.

Jeevan said...

This palace is truly amazing and your post details are interesting and wishes rise to visit.

Happy Republic Day!

eileeninmd said...

Thanks for a wonderful tour of the palace. Great photos.

Jossie said...

What a stunning museum. Thank you for the tour. I am learning more and more about India. Wonderful!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful place to see, thank you for sharing it!
And greetings from frosty Finland, my photos are totally different :))

Anya said...

Amazing shots
thanks for sharing that beauty :-)

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

That is an amazing place. I liked the part about a test with 10 elephants. Anything that can hold 10 elephants could hold a couple chandeliers.

Sumandebray said...

It is nice to see palaces but when you pause and think how all these were constructed ... you see the sweat and blood of the poor people collected as tax to pay for such palaces..... then you do not like it so much any more.
However as an artform it is quite apalling

Urmi said...

Wish you and your family a very Happy Republic Day.
Very interesting and nicely described about the museum. The pictures are fantastic. Wonderful post.

NatureFootstep said...

I am not really a fan of museums. I prefere the great outdoor ones. Nice shots though.

DeniseinVA said...

A spectacular place and your photos are fantastic!

Eden said...

Hi Rajesh!

What a wonderful place to visit! Great shots.

George said...

This is truly a beautiful palace. It is obviously fit for a king. Thanks for sharing this wonderful place with us.

joshi daniel said...

the last image is really excellent!

Reader Wil said...

You show us over and over again that India is one of the oldest countries in the world with a very rich and complicated history and culture. how beautiful your photos are. Thanks for sharing and telling about ten elephants testing the ceiling. That was hopefully not bad for the elephants?

Gattina said...

As always very interesting ! It's nice when you are able to take picture in a museum, I mostly have to do that secretely, lol !

Diane AZ said...

Enjoyed this tour, the furniture and chandeliers are magnificent!

Ryan said...

I am planning to travel from Surat to Gwalior sometime soon. Want to travel by road. What is the best route? Is the travel through MP safe?
I'm excited to visit scindia museum.

Vicki ~ FL said...

Nice shots and thanks for the tour.

Elaine Yim said...

The chandeliar in the last picture looks very glad.

Ezhilan said...

Wonderful collection and presentation!I like the artistic works.

Unknown said...

The Durbar Hall is simply amazing!

Janie said...

The Hall tour shows such elegant decor. Thanks for the tour of this interesting museum.

Rajesh said...

Amy: Thanks, I am glad you enlarged the images and liked them.

Protege, Anna, Beth, Babooshka, Carver, Photo, Martha, noel, Indrani, Sandy, Mama, Jacob: Thanks for the appreciation.

Rakesh, foto, Sylvia, magiceye: Thanks, it is a nice place and must visit place.

Tarun: Thanks, I have do not have the pictures of weapons on display in museum. But I do have the snap of the train. I will post it soon.

Ebie, Mark, Pam, LadyFi, Vicky, Rekha, eileeninmd, Leena, Jossie, Anya, Babli, Nature, Denise, Regina: Thanks for the appreciation.

Suman: Thanks, the plalaces were built from the taes. But the people in those days led better lives as they were take care better than now.

Jabblog, Fishing guy, Yogi, Wil: Thanks, the palace has pretty big starirs and passage which elephans can easily use to reach the top of the pallace. I guss they used them.

Jeevan, Wolynski, Eden, George, Joshi, Gattina, Diane, Vicki, KDP, Arasu, JM, Janie: Thanks for the appreciation.

Ryan: Thanks, I am not sure about the best route from Surat to Gwalior. But the travel through MP is defenitely safe.

Anonymous said...

splendid :)

Seti@wan Dirgant@Ra said...

Good morning
It’s nice to visit for the first time to your site.
if you do not mind so good as a visit behind
thanks
Nice day

Rajesh said...

Deepak: Thanks for the appreciation.

Seti: Thanks, access to your blog is restricted.

Priyashi said...

beautiful pictures Rajesh...:)

Anonymous said...

The second photo has a very interesting warrior in what appears to be leather. Quite a beautiful palace.