I remember visiting this place in 1986 when was working for a
convent school in Secunderabad. The
chief minister of Andhra Pradesh’s grand daughter was studying in our school
and the school got the permission to visit this palace for sight seeing. I was
happy to be part of school staff for one day picnic at this Palace.
I saw this magnificent palace for the first time in my life,
and it was such an amazing sight. I looked at everything with wonder of all the collections - beautiful art &
architecture with huge paintings, the dining hall, card room, dance hall,
everything was so well organized and well placed. It was such pleasure and
feast for the eyes to see the beauty of the palace.
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I came out of the palace, and saw a whole view of the city
from the top, as this palace is 2000 foot high hill, and 5 kms away from
Charminar. Just below the palace the sight was pathetic
and I saw so many huts and poor people residing in the same area a little away
from the palace…. I felt sad looking at the surrounding area filled with people
living below poverty line.
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I came back with mixed feeling in my heart, on one side there
was so much of luxury for some people; and on the other side there are people
suffering even for one square meal a day. But still I have not forgotten this
palace and it has great story to convey.
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Today this palace is bought by the Taj group of hotels and is
meant for the rich class who can afford to holiday in this palace. Nevertheless it is still worth visiting this
palace and its awe inspiring. My daughter has been asking me to take her to
this palace….. … and I hope to take her
to show this magnificent palace.
I was just browsing about this palace and I found the meaning
of Falaknuma which means “Like the Sky” or “Mirror of the Sky” in Urdu. It
is said to have been designed by an English architect and took 9 years to
complete the construction. According to
the http://en.wikipedia.org it is made
completely with Italian marble, the palace was built in the shape of a scorpion
with two stings spread out as wings in north.
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The Nawab was an avid traveler,
and his influence show in the architecture. This palace has 60 decorated rooms
and 22 spacious halls, it has some of the finest collections of the Nizam
treasure. Falaknuma houses a large collection of rare treasures including
paintings, statues, furniture, manuscripts and books. The jade collection at
the palace is considered to be unique in the world. The dining hall is huge with
a capacity to accommodate 100 guests at it table. The palace has a library with one of the
finest collections of Quran in India .
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There is a billiards room designed by Burroughs and Watts
from England
Hope to revisit this palace!
Thanks Genevive for this interesting post. It's hard to see luxury and poverty side by side. This reminds me of Prince Siddharta leaving his palatial home, and its comforts and really seeing the world with its suffering.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless ... the Falaknuma does sound like a treasure, Mirror of the Sky, Light of the Sky.
Thank you again.
You are right about prince siddharta who later on became enlightened after finding out that desire is the root cause of all evil.... I am very fond of Lord Buddha and the eight fold path that he prescribes to live a balanced life....thank you for reminding me and falakuma is on my list, atleast for the sake of my daughter I must visit...
DeleteThat looks an amazing palace! Wanted to go and visit now:-) Great pics. But I can also relate to your thoughts on visiting these grand palaces- so grande - and then on the other hand so many people starving and having so little. So big differences between rich and poor.
ReplyDeleteYes , Its an amazing palace and one time visit is worth; and you get to see the Life styles of kings. When we visit this palace we will understand how much this Nawab(King) has travelled to have collected such beautiful master piece of art work from around the world.
DeleteThat looks like such a beautiful place. And I did not know it is so close to Bangalore. I should visit this one. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHyderabad is just an overnight journey by train from Bangalore, there is plenty of information on Google with regard to visiting this palace and also the other historic places in hyderabad.
ReplyDelete