Well, I had posted that KSTDC had no information about the Bangalore Palace being open to the public. But I did some digging, not satisfied with the pathetic response from the Tourism Department….And here are the details. NO website about the Palace yet has the information that the Palace is now open to the public. But I persevered, and a friend of mine, Jayashree Thiagarajan, ultimately contacted Urmila Devi herself.

The Bangalore Palace IS open to the public, from 10 am to 6 pm every day. (I don’t know if there is a weekly holiday though.) Admission is Rs.100 per person. Camera fees are a not-worth-it figure of Rs.500. (I really don’t know why the two figures are so disproportionate, and how they can prevent someone going in with a discreet mobile phone. A typical instance of imposing a rule which cannot be enforced.)

A “guide” comes along. I put it in inverted commas because the one who came with me did NOT have any accurate knowledge and would often go off somewhere else just when I had a question, to many of which he gave demonstrably wrong answers.

There is a lot that is wonderful to see….the carved staircase, the mirrors, the Indo-Saracenic architecture inside, some of the superb artefacts.

There is a lot that is falling to ruin, heart-breaking to see…parquet floors with no polish, stained glass missing, whole panels of wainscoting or celings coming apart; huge stains in the lovely wallpapers….

There is a restoration effort going on…but it is done, not to restore things to their original condition, but to pull down and rebuild without taste or imagination, with garish colours and cheap materials.

Amazingly, beautiful objets d’art and exquisite paintings co-exist with some real junk. The Palace is really a case of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. But well worth a visit.

Entrance is from the main (Vasanth Nagar) gate. Call Mr Pandiyan at 23360818 for details.

If any reader is interested in the photographs that I took, please respond to this post and I can give you the URL’s.