Description of the attraction
Located in the small town of Orchha, lost among the wooded hills, the Yahangir Mahal Palace is a monument of true Mughal architecture. It was erected in 1598 for the Mughal prince Salem, better known as the Mughal Emperor Yahangir. The construction marked the victory of the prince over his sworn enemy Vir Singh Deo and was supposed to serve as a kind of military fortification to maintain Salem's power in the new conquered territory.
The citadel is built on a hill with a wonderful view of the surrounding area. It is a whole complex of buildings made of yellow sandstone. The palace has three floors, each of which has large hinged balconies, the roof is decorated with many towers of different sizes, crowned with domes. On the sides of the main gate of the palace are statues of elephants, which, with the ringing of bells clamped in their trunks, announced the arrival of the ruler.
The inner chambers are striking in their sophistication and splendor: carved columns, openwork arches, many decorative elements. Some halls of the palace were painted with intricate patterns depicting scenes from the life of the ruler, flowers and animals, and were also lined with mosaic tiles. In some places, the painting is clearly visible. And in general, the palace is quite well preserved, and this is due to the fact that the city of Orchha was not a strategically important object, so it did not receive much attention, and it suffered only minor destruction during the numerous wars that were waged on this land.
On the territory of Yahangir Mahal, there is a small hotel for tourists who have a special passion for history and want to plunge into the atmosphere of medieval India. But such lovers of antiquity have to share their place of residence with the indigenous inhabitants of the palace - monkeys, who are not at all afraid of people and feel like full-fledged owners of the palace.
