Travel & Vacation: Chowmahalla Palace – Hyderabad, India

Looking from one side of the palace across the middle fountains to the other side

It was a beautiful palace with a lot of history. Like many of the historical or tourists places to visit in Hyderabad the local price and the tourist price was different. Jake and I had to pay more because we were tourists but we our lines were much faster. Also, another thing that I didn’t realize until after going into various places was that it cost extra to bring in your camera and take pictures.

Chowmalla Palace in Hyderabad, India

The Chowmalla Palace was a place for royalty.  The royalty would entertain guests in this beautiful palace in the heart of Hyderabad.  This was the first of the Asaf Jahi Palaces.  Construction began on the Chowmahalla Palace in 1750 which resided on 45 acres of land, it was a replica of Shah of Iran’s Palace.  When the Nizam dynasty took over they expanded and added even more palaces to the Chowmahalla complex.  The heart of the palace is the Khilwat Mubarak which has a grand ballroom and throne made of marble.  Noblemen and officials were invited to come to the palace for a variety of celebrations with the royal family.

Map of the Chowmahalla Palace – Hyderabad, India

HEH Mukarram Jah Bahadur Asaf Jah VIII and Princess Esra decided to restore the palace with the help of experts.  In 2005 the palace for the first time opened its gates to visitors and guests from around the world.  The palace was given the Award of Merit 2010 by the UNESCO which was the first of time in Hyderabad’s history.   Chowmahalla Palace won the INTACH Heritage Awards in 2002 and 2005 for best maintenance.

In the Chowmahalla Palace courtyards we saw a couple cannons, this one is near the gardens and water fountain.

The cannon had a dragon-lizard like animal on the top and the India royalty crest.  I am not sure how much they actually used the cannon since it was inside the courtyard and more decorative.  It may have been just stored there as a piece of history, but it was cool to look at and much different then other cannons we have seen.

This is where the royalty would host plays, dances in their huge ballroom and had a throne were the king would sit.

This was a beautiful part of the palace full of history.  I really wanted to go up onto the top balconies and look out over the entire palace.  It would be really neat to see what it looked like back when it was active with the royal family and guests.

The Chowmahalla Palace had many buildings and courtyards to explore.

The English Bracket Clock

We walked into the ballroom just a few moments before noon.  There was a room next to the front door and we noticed a large crowd of people sitting on the floor and looking at the clock.  Of course we were curious too!  We soon discovered that the people sitting on the floor were waiting to see what would happen when the clock struck noon, so we waited since it was only a minute away.  When the clock struck noon a little drummer boy came out and tapped a drum 12 times.

Chowmahalla Palace’s ballroom

Beautiful ballroom with high ceilings, marble floors and columns and crystal chandeliers.  It was a pretty impressive room.

Pieces of original stationary from royalty that lived in the Chowmahalla Palace

This shows some of the names and royal crests from the families that lived in the Palace.

Jake & I in one of the royal cloat rooms that displayed garments, furniture, utensils and items from the royality who lived in Chowmahalla Palace

The royal throne in Chowmahalla Palace

The king lounged in his throne in the middle of the ballroom.

Cool chair in the palace

There were rooms in the palace where we could take pictures and other areas where we were not allowed to take pictures.  It was really neat looking at all the furniture, paintings, and cool pieces of history.

Window facing one of the courtyards

In the stairwells they had windows that they could open up which provided a nice breeze through the palace and many had beautiful views overlooking the courtyard.  This is on one of the stairwells that had an open window overlooking a courtyard.  I love how the tree has grown to perfectly match the shape of the window!  A few more pictures of the Chowmahalla Palace will be coming soon.

The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax.  Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away.  Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories.  It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine.  Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn.  You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!