Lal Bagh Palace, Indore - The Reflection of European Architecture
Situated on the left bank of the river Saraswati, Lal Bagh Palace is class and grandeur personified. Resided by one of the most powerful Maratha rulers of India, the Holkar dynasty, Lal Bagh Palace grew in the reigns of three princes. Tukojirao Holkar II (1844–1886) started the construction; Shivaji Rao (1886–1903) continued it; Tukojirao Holkar III (1903–1926) loved the palace so much that, even though he abdicated in 1926, he stayed on till his death in 1978. The property, then with the Princess Usha Trust, was shifted to the Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Educational Trust. In 1987, the palace was acquired by the government of Madhya Pradesh and now serves as a museum. Designed by Bernard Triggs, Lal Bagh Palace is a blend of renaissance, paladin and baroque elements in architecture, and rococo and neo-classical in furniture. It almost seems as if every extravagant style, every new whim of European architects, was incorporated into the palace. The manicured gardens surrounding the palace ar...