The Aftab Mahal
The Aftab Mahal
The Chowmahalla palace is located in Hyderabad, India. Bulit in the 18th century, it was the official residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad. Chowmahalla basically means "Four Palaces" since it is comprised of four elegant buildings - Afzal Mahal, Mahtab Mahal, Tahniyat Mahal and Aftab Maha built symmetrically opposite each other in Neoclassical style. Each displaying intricate designs befitting the grandeur of royalty. It reflects a complex blend of Persian, Rajasthani, and European architecture.
A Little Photoshoot
A Little Photoshoot
Neoclassical architecture is a style that became popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. It focuses on simplicity, symmetry, and grandeur, inspired by the buildings of ancient Greece and Rome.You know it is built in a neoclassical style when it has large columns, symmetrical design, and a grand, balanced look. The buildings are with simple but elegant decorations. It may have triangular tops (pediments), tall windows, and a stone or marble finish. The most prominent examples of this kind of architecture include the White House, The Pantheon, The Bolshoi theatre.
Entrance to the Khilwat Mubarak
Entrance to the Khilwat Mubarak
I was absolutely bedazzled looking at the gorgeous construction. Felt like a princess myself roaming around these grand halls, having a glimpse into the life of 18th century royalty.
Khilwat Mubarak
This is the "Khilwat Mubarak", considered to be the heart of Chowmahalla palace. I mean? Obviously! These exquisite Belgian crystal chandeliers add to the splendor of the beautiful halls. This was the place where all the important stuff happened, where the Nizams held their court, official ceremonies and other state affairs. This hall was naturally a symbol of power and great prestige witnessing coronations and grand celebrations.
Royal Seating
Royal Seating
Great Hall with Belgian Chandeliers
Great Hall with Belgian Chandeliers
Roof Designs
I went absolutely crazy admiring the breathtakingly intricate designs on the roof. It depicts elaborate geometric patterns and floral motifs typical of Islamic art and architecture. While I do appreciate modern, minimalist architecture and its clean aesthetics, there's something about this lavish, no-detail-spared, every-corner-adorned grandeur that truly lights me up.
|
|
|---|
The Mahallat
The next room was a gallery that displayed rare photographs and paintings of various royal families that lived in the palace. These were very well preserved.
The Royal Families
The Royal Families
Porcelain Craftsmanship
A few rooms hosted crockery and dinner sets, which too were obviously beyond beautiful. The collection includes fine porcelain and ceramic dinnerware from France, England, and Japan. All of these are hand-painted which makes them all the more valuable. There were even cups with portraits of various Nizams! Many pieces have gold rimmed edges or silver designs flaunting the luxury of these rulers. Some crockery sets have European-style floral patterns while some showcase display Mughal motifs, blending Western and Indian aesthetics together.
Royal Cutlery
Royal Cutlery
The Seileh Khana - Armoury
Moving on from the pretty and delicate porcelain sets , next we have a room filled with weapons. However, this exhibit was just as striking and impressive. The collection includes ornate swords, daggers, spears and shields. Many of them were decorated with gold and silver or bedecked with precious stones. One would not want to go to battle holding a jewel studded dagger, so these were mostly ceremonial used for gifting and grand occassions. But others were actual war weapons and naturally very lethal.
Weapons Display
Weapons Display
|
|
|---|
Vintage Cars
The palace houses an impressive collection of vinatge cars that reflect the luxury and technological interests of the Nizams eras. It was a little hard clicking pictures of the cars kept in display as they were placed in glass and the reflections did not help. One good picture that I managed to click is of the 1953 Packard Clipper. Clearly the Nizams had exquisite taste when it came to automobiles.
1953 Packard Clipper
1953 Packard Clipper
Clock Tower
This clock tower is known as "Khilafat clock" and it is situated at the Western main gateway to the Chowmahalla palace. The tower is three storeys high high and has balconies or "Jharokhas" of Mughal style. The clock was been ticking since the 1750, and a family of horologists winds the clock occassionally. Heard an anecdote that people across the kingdom came here to correct their wrist watches and match the timings with the clock tower.
Royal Living Room
This display imagines and depicts how a drawing room of a royal family might have looked like. And I feel it is pretty accurate in terms of its grandeur. I can very well imagine the Nizams lounging here sipping on their teas, on the days they were not out strategizing for wars and shaping history.
Afzal Mahal
It is located in the Southern courtyard with the three other palaces, positioned symmetrically around a central pool and fountain. It is a two-storied structure, again built in the Neoclassical style. It served as the royal drawing room during the time of the fifth Nizam.
All in all, the Chowmahalla palace museum was a journey through 18th century Mughal history and a sight to behold. The efforts taken behind it's restoration and preservation are truly commendable and India needs many more projects like these.
The history and architecture are sourced from the museum website
Hope you Enjoined this Post!
Hope you Enjoined this Post!
You can check out this post and your own profile on the map. Be part of the Worldmappin Community and join our Discord Channel to get in touch with other travelers, ask questions or just be updated on our latest features.
Wow this place is amazing! I love visiting museums and historical sites like this. They’re an opportunity for learning and admire art and precious objects. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for stopping by! I'm glad you liked it.
It definitely was a memorable visit ❤️
The beauty of this place still amazes me! 🤌🏼✨
I know right! Extremely beautiful ❤️
Congratulations @yugadi! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 2250 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts:
What an amazing place!!
It most certainly was! Beyond beautiful ✨
Nice shot, I love the material use to make your clothes.
It is a pretty skirt, no?
Thank you for stopping by ✨
You are welcome
Travel Digest #2465.
Become part of our travel community:
- Join our Discord
Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Your post has been manually curated by the @worldmappin team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!Thank you so much for the mention ❤️
It is well deserved!
Keep up the good work! 😀
💪🗺️🐝
Discord Server.This post has been manually curated by @steemflow from Indiaunited community. Join us on our
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.
Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.
100% of the rewards from this comment goes to the curator for their manual curation efforts. Please encourage the curator @steemflow by upvoting this comment and support the community by voting the posts made by @indiaunited.
A palace of truly astonishing beauty, which you were able to capture in magnificent photographs, including the one in which you appear. We can appreciate the sumptuousness of these spaces and objects, in a rich combination of styles. Thank you and best regards, @yugadi.
Thank you so much for your words and support. I'm glad I got to share this gem with you and everyone else here. The palace surely deserves more recognition, for it's historical significance.
The facade of the palace is beautiful, it also has several decorative elements that look like lace ribbons on the columns and cornices, the interior design is also charming, definitely my favorite part is the hall of the chandeliers are large and have many bulbs, the floor in this area looks like a chessboard, the living room is also very nice, the furniture looks spectacular and elegant as well as the curtains.
Greetings!
Wow! You have described the architecture so perfectly. Thank you for taking the time and noticing the little details like the chessboard floors. My favourite room was the one with chandeliers too. It was exquisite and I could sit and soak it in for hours.
Thank you for stopping by ❤️
Greetings dear @yugadi. Thank you for your great interest in the world of architecture and design. Have fun and feel free to share more of your personal stories by sourcing inspirations from the various A+D topics here:
https://peakd.com/hive-178708/@aplusd/architecturedesign-or-community-content-criteria
It's our tremendous pleasure to warmly welcome you to the Architecture+Design Community on Hive! 😀
Thank you for the warm welcome!
Since joining hive, this community has caught my eye and I've always enjoyed reading the posts here. I'm glad I got a chance to share something as well.
I went through the 'Community Content Criteria' and I must say it's very detailed and makes everything pretty clear.
Hope to have some good experiences in the community!
You're most welcome dear @yugadi. We're glad that you have found a valuable home for your fantastic A+D content in our beloved community. Feel free to ask questions if there's anything you don't understand onwards. Have fun and we wish you a delightful journey ahead. 😀
Got it! Thank you so much ❤️
View or trade
LOHtokens.@yugadi, You have received 1.0000 LOH for posting in Ladies of Hive. We believe that you should be rewarded for the time and effort spent in creating articles. The goal is to encourage token holders to accumulate and hodl LOH tokens over a long period of time.
Beautiful architecture, very peaceful! Thanks!
!LUV
!BUD
!AFIT
Thank you for the support ❤️
You are very welcome!
!LUV
(1/1) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily@yugadi, @acgalarza
For more info about tipping AFIT tokens, check out this link
What a grand and historical place! It's a palace after all. The chandelier hall is simply stunning! The intricate details and patterns on the roofs are fascinating. The installations must have been painstaking.
Thank you for this amazing tour through your pictures and descriptions.
I know right! It indeed is exquisite. The efforts behind this will never be forgotten.
Thank you for reading and supporting!
It was a pleasure sharing this with you all ❤️
Cheers❤ It is nice that such places are preserved and maintained well.
Curated Content Catalog and was awarded RUNNER UP in Architecture Anthology™ 90. More power!Congratulations dear @yugadi! We are delighted to inform you that your outstanding publication was specially selected as an exclusive feature for our
Thank you for subscribing to Architecture+Design, an OCD incubated community on the Hive Blockchain.
Thank you so much for the mention! Happy to be part of the community ❤️
With utmost pleasure dear @yugadi. Continue sharing your awesome A+D stories on Hive and the world. Enjoy! 😀