Padmananbhapuram palace so named after its location is palace located in the current kanyakumari dt. of Tamil nadu. It was the palace of the venad kings who ruled the southern parts of Kerala and later that of the Travancore king before they shifted to Trivandrum. The palace is currently preserved in its original state and is under the archeology department of Kerala.
The palace has a great setting, it comes under the foot of a hill, the veli hills. The view from one of the corridors of the palace of the veli hills is breathtaking. The palce as a whole is mostly made of wood, it has two floors and the floors are, made of mixture of lime stone and many other natural materials.
The palace as a whole has the Kerala model architecture and is quite similar to the kuthira malika, another palace of the travancore kingdom situated in trivandrum that I had visited, but this one is much bigger and magnificent. There is a lot of wood, the ceilings are made of carved wood, there is bed said to be used by the king that has medicinal properties.
There are also objects used by the royalty of that day displayed as it where, these include mirrors of which some are described to have imported from Europe, chairs and other furniture, porcelain pots from china and the like so you get an idea of life around that time.
Visitors are allowed entry into almost all the rooms in the palace. There is the durbal hall where king held meetings, where furniture are preserved as such. there is a dance floor, which has kilvathil on its side, used by the women folk to observe the performance. Apart from the main complex there a number of other structures in the complex most are connected to the main complex, each separate structure also follows the Kerala style of four corners with nadumuttam.
The tallest is the uppara malika, that was built by king marthanda varma in honor of the Lord Padmanabha, this also has a lot of wood work like most are palace structures. The one worth mentioning is the intricate mural painting on walls of the top floor. It is simply magnificent and well preserved. The other structures include thai kottaram, the mothers palace. The Indravilasam where important guest stayed. the puthan kottaram, which is the newest among the structures built in 19th century. the thekke mailika is separate and also acts as a museum for some of the old artifacts.there are many more structures including the armory. Each structures though similar in a glance, is completely varied and has stories of their own. It is good idea take the service of a guide, guides are provided by the archaeological department.
The whole complex is situated in the padmanabhapuram fort. the archaeological department after acquiring the structures has constructed a museum inside the complex. The construction is similar to other structures and doesn’t stand out or interfere with the view of others. The museum is towards right as we enter and houses different artifacts from the area, most of which are stone idols of gods and goddess.
Overall this the most beautiful man made structures in whole of Kerala, even tough currently situated in Tamil nadu. The intricacies of the architecture and wooden carvings is sight everyone should view at least once. You can reach here easily by road and is situated about 50km from trivandrum on the way to kanyakumari.