In case if you ever visit Gwalior, then you must not miss out on visiting the culturally rich and historically royal palace which is the Jai Vilas Mahal. It is built by Maharaja Srimanta Madhavrao Scindia
It is one of the biggest palaces in India and often attracts countless tourists from across the world. It is cognisance of the fact that the lovely city of Gwalior is well-known for its palaces and temples as it offers a wide range of rich history.
Let’s take a look at the few interesting facts about the palace and let’s also learn what makes this palace unique:
The grand palace was built in the year 1874 by Maharajadhiraj Shrimant Jayajirao Scindia Alijah Bahadur. What costs a massive Rs. 1 crore back then is worth over Rs. 4000 crores today. It has a massive court hall and houses over 5000 books. It should be noted that the palace was designed by architect Sir Michael Filose who drew inspiration from Italian, Tuscan and Corinthian style of architecture.
There are as many as 400 rooms in the palace and in fact, a part of which is used as a museum to treasure rich history. It is spread over 1,240,771 square feet, a major part of the palace has been preserved the way it was constructed. One of the massive attractions of this palace is that it has a 3500 kg chandelier.
The roof is made beautiful in gold and around 8 elephants were suspended from the roof to analyse if the roof could bear the actual weight of the chandelier before its installation.
For the unversed, the majestic palace was built as a gesture of grand welcome for the Prince of Wales, King Edward VI. In fact, it was also the residence of the Scindia dynasty and was made open to the general public in the year 1964.
Freshly recruited BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia is now the current legal owner of this magnanimous palace, and his property inheritance is known to be close to USD 2 billion.