Mysore Palace

While in the state of Karnataka, my GSE team and I will make a two day trip to Mysore. We'll surely visit this palace, commissioned in 1897 and completed in 1912. It was the residence of the former royal family of Mysore, the Maharaja and his family.

The Kingdom of Mysore was ruled by the Wodeyar dynasty from 1399 until the independence of India in 1947. The Wodeyar kings built a palace in Mysore in the 14th century, but this palace was partially damaged by a lightning strike in 1638. It was repaired and expanded, but fell into neglect by the late 18th century. Demolished in 1793, a new palace was rebuilt in 1803. This palace was destroyed in a fire in 1897 during the wedding of Princess Jayalakshmanni.

The then regent of Mysore, Maharani Kempa Nanjammani Vani Vilasa Sannidhana, commissioned a British architect, Henry Irwin, to build yet another palace in its place. It was rebuilt and completed in 1912 in an "Indo-Saracenic" style, blending Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, and Gothic architecture styles.

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