Makarpura Palace

Makarpura Palace used to be the Palace where Gaekwad royal families used to live in the city of Vadodara, Gujarat, India is now housing a training centre for Indian Air Force. This training School is called No 17 Tetra School.

Maharaja Khende Rao of Vadodara constructed this Palace in 1870 which is a property designed in the Italian style. This Palace was later extended with improved facilities by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III.

Since it is a training school for Indian Air force it is not open for public visits.

History

Makarpura Palace was built in the year 1870 in an Italian Renaissance style in the southern outskirts of Baroda. It was Maharaja Khende Rao who built this Palace built to be the summer palace for the royal family. Although, Maharaja raised this Palace for the Royal family's summer stay, the family members used to spend most of their summers in the Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu.

During the later period, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III made improvements and additions to this place.

Architecture

Makarpura Palace is built in the Italian Renaissance style which is popular for its architectural specialty. The building is decorated with the structures of tall arches and beautifully positioned pillars which are many in number. There are rows of miniature spires in this three-storeyed magnificent building.

The visitor can witness all these wonderful features of the Palace only from outside since entry is not permitted for a visit to go through the interiors of the Palace construction.

Visitor Information

There are a few attractions nearby which include

• Sursagar Talav, an artificial lake which is large and always full, restored in recent times. It is a wonderful place for a hang out with family, where one can have boating too. This lake is the place where people immerse their Ganesh Idols after Puja during Ganesh Chaturthi which is a traditional practice.
• Kirti Stambh installed to mark the victory at a point of time by Baroda kings, which means a Tower of Fame or Triumph.
• Tambekar Wada, a haveli of 4-storey type which was once the residence of the Diwan of Vadodara now acquired and maintained by the Archeological Survey of India. Its wall paintings of 19th century depicting Maratha tradition of those days display scenes from the Anglo Maratha war besides incidents in epic Mahabharata, Lord Krishna's life time stories etc.

How to Reach

Vadodara is approachable by road in 112 km from Ahmadabad and it is of 420 km distance from Mumbai. It is connected to National Highway 8 with a number of buses run by state transport corporations and private operators from all over Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh plying buses to these cities. Many intercity buses connect Ahmadabad and Vadodara which takes a journey of approximately 2 hours travel and on every 15 minutes, these buses are available.

As for rail transport, all important Rail links of the Country are available for Vadodara.

Vadodara airport has frequent flights on schedule every day to destinations like Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmadabad etc. which is equipped with good facilities for availing local transport and taxis.

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