Thirumalai Nayak Palace

Thirumalai Nayak Palace

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The Thirumalai Nayak Palace attracts plenty of visitors since it conducts a fascinating Light and Sound Show on its premises every evening in Tamil and English. In 1636, King Thirumalai Nayak commissioned an Italian architect to build this palace in the Indo-Saracenic style with beautiful arches. Later on, Thirumalai Nayak's grandson Chokkanatha Nayak destroyed the Palace and transferred the valuables to other places. The Swargavilasa and Rangavilasa were two major parts of this beautiful palace. Of them, today only the spacious courtyard Swargavilasa and some adjoining buildings survive. The courtyard has massive circular white pillars. The palace shrine, where Thirumalai Nayak offered prayers to goddess Rajrajeswari every morning, was located to the northeast of the building . The shrine is richly carved in stone and the dome was covered with gold. The palace was then partially restored by Lord Napier, the then Governor of Madras, in 1866-72. Post- Independence, the palace was declared as a National Monument and is under the protection of the Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department. The Thirumalai Nayak Palace is about 1.5 km from Madurai Meenakshi Temple.