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Hazarduari Palace
Location | Murshidabad District, West Bengal, India |
Built in | December, 1837 AD |
Built by | Colonel Duncan Macleod |
Former name | Bara Kothi |
Alternative name | NizamatKila |
Architectural style | Italian style |
The Hazarduari Palace was earlier known by the name ‘Bara Kothi’. It is situated in the Murshidabad city of West Bengal state in Kila Nizamat’s Campus. The construction of the temple was done by the architect, Duncan Macleod in the nineteenth century during the rule of Begal, Orissa and Bihar’s Nawab Nazim Humayun Jah who rules from the period of 1824 to 1838.
It is known by the palace having thousand doors. It is a three-storey structure and out of the 100 doors in the palace, only 900 out of them were real. There were 8 galleries and 114 rooms which were contructed in the European style of architecture. The Palace was built in an area of 41 acres. At present it has become a museum which has huge collection paintings, armoury, the portraits of Nawab, and other exotic things. The Armoury which was kept there had 2700 arms out of which only some were kept in the display. The swords of Shiraj-ud-daula as well as Nawab Alivardi Khan, who was his grandfather, are kept there.
History
On 9th August, 1829 the foundation was laid of the palace with a stone and from that day onwards the construction of the palace was started. The Governor-General of that time was William Cavendish. At present the Hazarduari palace is considered very conspicuous amongst the buildings found in Murshidabad.
For the preservation of the palace, Archaeological survey of India took over the Palace. It is one of the major attraction place of the city.
Architecture
Colonel Duncan Macleod was the architect of the palace who constructed the palace in the Italian style. The main highlights were the Durbar hall in the palace along with the banquet hall and the ball room. The durbar hall was 63 feet in height and was made of glass paneled dome like structure where there was a big candekabram was hanging which had 101 branches and it is the second largest after the Buckingdom palaces. The Bhaskers who were the carvers, guarded the crafts and were known for their arts and building tools.
The library of the palace had collections which were not used by the public without permissions. The vintage cars, fittan cars which were used by the Nawabs and also by their families were also the attractions of the palace.
The palace is now a museum which is considered to be the biggest of Archaeological Survey of India with 20 galleries being displayed having 4742 antiquities and only 1034 were displayed for the people. The antiquities of the museum had weapons, marble statues, porcelain, metal objects, oil paintings of Italian, Dutch and French artists, farmans, old maps, rare books, manuscripts, Palanquins, land revenue records and also a bamboo.
Visitors Information
The museum is open entire week except on Friday it is not open.
The Museum is open from 9:00 AM in the morning till 5:00 PM in the evening for the visitors.
There is an entry fee which is different for Indians and foreigners. It is rupees 5 for Indians and rupees 100 for the foreigners.
Best Time to Visit
The best time to visit the palace in Murshidabad is during the months of October, November and December when the weather of West Bengal makes the journey comfortable to travel.
How to Reach
It is a tourist place and West Bengal has many other places of attractions which make the place famous to travel. Although Murshidabad is a town in West Bengal yet it has nearby railway and bus stations along with the airports which makes easier for the visitor to travel and reach the palace. let’s discuss the means to reach by road, rail and air.
By Air
The nearest airport is in Kolkata, the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose airport which has both the connectivity of domestic and international flights to various parts of the world. A taxi could be hired from the airport to reach the cities which are easily available.
By Rail
Although Murshidabad is not having any railway station in its own town but there is a railway station Berhampur which is near Murshidabad at a distance of 650 km which has a regular train service connected to various cities across India.
By Road
The place has good connectivity and roads and there are good facilities of bus services which run on daily basis of all classes including private and state buses at affordable fares.
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