Hill Palace Museum Quick Facts
| Place | Tripunithura, Kerala (India) |
| Built in | 1865 |
| Type | Museum |
Hill Palace Museum Overview
The Hill Palace Museum is the largest archaeological museum in Kerala, located at Thripunithura near the city of Kochi. Kerala is known as God's state because of its beauty. In ancient times this royal palace was the administrative office and official residence of the Maharaja of Cochin. This museum is famous all over the world due to its beauty and amazing structure.
Hill Palace Museum History
The official capital of the Kingdom of Kochi was earlier located at Thrissur and the court along with the royal office of the Maharaja was located in the city itself. However, according to liturgical customs, the seat of the Queen (Penavazithapuran) of Kochi was seen as the Royal Capital as the Kochi royal family had matrilineal traditions and the queen was regarded as the sovereign of the kingdom under which the king ruled. was.
From 1755 onwards, the queen and her servants also resided in Tripunithura, making the city the official capital there. Later Prince Rama Varma became the king of Tripunithura.
In the year 1865, a royal office was built for the residence of the king. Initially it began as the offices of the Royal office, the court building and the palaces of the Royal secretaries, but soon many structures were also added to the main structure for various purposes.
Hill Palace Museum Interesting Facts
- Built in the year 1865, this museum complex has a total of 49 buildings.
- In the year 1986, this palace was opened to the general public.
- Located about 10 km from Kochi city, this palace is covered over 54 acres (220,000 square metres).
- All the buildings built in this wonderful palace are made keeping in mind the contemporary style, which are an excellent example of traditional architectural style.
- The palace complex also houses a deer park, Archaeological museum, Children's park, a Prehistoric park and a Historical museum.
- Apart from these, some rare spices and herbs can also be seen in the courtyard of the palace.
- The Responsibility of maintaining this palace has been entrusted to the Kerala State Archaeological Department Museum and they have done a splendid job of preserving the original architectural style of the palace.
- The palace was handed over to the Government of Kerala by the Cochin Royal family and in the year 1980, the palace was taken over by the Department of Archeology and later converted into a museum.
- The Premises of this museum is one of the most favorite places of Malayalam film industry. Some scenes of the popular Malayalam film Manichitraazhu have also been shot in this palace.
- It also displays rare specimens of more than 200 pottery and ceramic vessels brought from Japan and China.
- Hill Palace Museum is open for tourists from 9:00 to 12:30 and 02:00 to 04:30 on all 6 days of the week except Mondays.
- The entry fee to this palace is Rs 30 for Indians and Rs 10 for children between 5 and 12. Photography and videography are prohibited here.