A sprawling structure high on the banks of Lake Pichola, the City Palace of Udaipur is a maze of reception halls, royal apartments and courtyards, linked by a series of zig-zag corridors and steep staircases.
During a visit, I cracked open my guidebook for a hint of how to get around this fortress-like structure and learned the sometimes baffling layout was actually deliberate -- an attempt to thwart invaders.
To add further confusion, it's not a single palace, but a complex of 11 palaces that were built by 22 different Maharanas over a time frame of five centuries. In other words, there's a lot to see. (Maharana, in case you're wondering, refers to the hereditary ruler in the court of Mewar in Udaipur, the former kingdom's historic capital. The more familiar title Maharaja refers to a ruler who often gained power through military conquest).
Rajasthan has a profusion of palaces but the two hectare City Palace is the largest, and some say, the most beautiful. It houses the City Palace Museum, which covers several royal chambers and is open for tours; the Shambhu Nwas, inhabited by the Maharana's descendants; and two luxury hotels that were once part of the palace.
The hotels include Fateh Prakash with its stunning Durbar Hall and a gallery of crystal furniture, and Shiv Niwas, which was the royal guesthouse. Queen Elizabeth II once stayed there as did the King of Nepal and actor Roger Moore, who lived here for several months while filming Octupussy in 1982.
Visitors are free to wander through the Chandra Mahal with its marble reliefs, columns and fretwork windows, or the Dilkhushal Mahal, which has one chamber inlaid with red and silver glass, and another with an exhibit of superb Mewar miniature paintings.
Every room, it seems, has a story.
The Krishna Niwas chamber belonged to the teenage princess Krishna Kumari, who committed suicide in 1807 when rival suitors threatened to go to war over her hand in marriage.
The Crystal Gallery in Fateh Prakash is filled with crystal thrones, beds -- even a bejewelled carpet -- none of which Maharana Sajjan Singh ever got to see. He died before his order from F&C Osler & Co in England was delivered in 1877, and the items remained packed up in boxes for more than 100 years!
One reason Udaipur is often called Rajasthan's most romantic city, is because of the setting and princely opulence of the Lake Palace Hotel, which was once the Maharana of Udaipur's summer residence. A short boat ride from the City Palace, this 18th century white marble structure is built on an island in the middle of Lake Pichola.
If you can't afford the nightly room rates, which start at about $700 US, you can visit one of the restaurants for lunch or dinner. It's a good excuse to have a look around at the property with its many mosaics, mirror work, inlaid tiles, gardens and fountains, and, for a few hours at least, experience life in the palace of a king -- or maharana.
View royal splendour at AGO
A life-size portrait of one of the Maharanas of Mewar (an ancestor of the current Maharana from Udaipur) will be one of the first objects to greet visitors at the new AGO exhibit Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts, which opens Nov. 20 and continues to April 3.
Organized in collaboration with the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the AGO show is the exhibit's sole Canadian stop. More than 200 opulent objects, spanning the last 300 years of India's culture, are featured.
On view will be some of India's greatest treasures, including the famed throne that once belonged to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, a life-sized model elephant adorned with textiles and accompanied by a silver howdah from the early 19th century, a carriage entirely made of silver, paintings of spectacular royal processions, royal costumes and the must-see Patiala Necklace. Part of the largest single commission that the French house of Cartier has ever received, this piece of ceremonial jewellery contains 2,930 diamonds and weighs almost one thousand carats.
For more information visit ago.net/maharaja-exhibition.
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