The Bangalore Palace

Posted here are pictures taken at the Bangalore Palace, constructed between 1862 and 1944, with renovations in recent years. If you read local news stories over the last 2 decades, you will discover a “legal tangle of ownership” between the Mysore Royal Family, and disputes with the government and Supreme Court involvement. I am sure that Bangalore locals could explain this a lot better than me!

The Palace is absolutely beautiful and covers 450 acres, with the interior covering 45,000 sq ft (4200 m²). It includes 35 rooms, "mostly bedrooms". The architecture, preservation of pictures and paintings, the grounds, and history, etc. provided for an interesting tour. What I remembered, that piqued my interest the most, as I walked through this Palace and listened to the headphone audio, was that this had been a fairly recent venue for some big concert names, including the “Rolling Stones”. As I googled it, The Hindu news reported that the Rolling Stones had played here on April 4, 2003, with quite a few other big name bands also playing here through 2011, that I could find in the news. Quite an unexpected and interesting fact, for sure, about The Bangalore Palace.

It is open for daily tours for a basic fee, and there is a guard with a gun, who I photographed, who maintains the entrance. Everyone remarks, casually, that his gun “is not loaded”. However, that will remain a mystery, that is only known by him and his closest counterparts!