Tag: Chowmahalla Palace

Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad

The Chowmahalla Palace or literally “4 palace” was the residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad. This palace complex served a ceremonial role including coronations and state banquets. The palace is said to be modeled after the palace of the Shah of Iran. This particular palace was built in 1750.

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Khilawat Mubarak or Grand Hall
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The grand hall, adorned with crystal chandeliers
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The long red carpet corridors above the grand hall
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A Belgian crystal glass chandelier in the grand hall (Khilawat Mubarak)
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A chandelier against a beautifully decorated door
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Details of the ceiling in the grand hall of Chowmahalla Palace

As a first time visitor to Chowmahalla, I was impressed by the grandeur of this palace, immaculately maintained grounds and buildings, and tremendous opportunities for photography. Needless to say I shall be visiting there again on my next trip to Hyderabad.

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A front view of the Khilawat Mubarak
Technical Details

All pictures from a Nikon D80 camera fitted with a Tamron 18-250mm f3.5/5.6 zoom lens. Photographs processed in Adobe Lightroom and NIK software suite. Larger versions of the photographs are available from my flickr page.

Check out my other posts on Chowmahalla Palace

The Royal Verandah

The term verandah has made its way to English via India and refers to an open roofed courtyard around a bungalow or terrace. According to Wikipedia, a verandah  “commonly refers to balconies on cruise ships and some hotel properties. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure.”. The following verandah is from the Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad, India. Photographed as a single bracketed frame, this image was converted to black-and-white in Silver Efex Pro to add texture and tonal contrast.

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Pillared and beautifully decorated verandah at the Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad, India

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Doors to perception

Doors to Perception

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite – William Blake

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Infinite doors at Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad, India

Photographed at the Chowmahalla Palace, the seat of the Nizams of Hyderabad, India (January 2012).