Place · sea-facing summer palace · India
Vijay Vilas Palace, Mandvi
Also known as Mandvi, Vijay Vilas, Vijay Vilas (Vijay Singh), Vijay Vilas Palace, Vijay Vilas Palace — Mandvi
The 1929 Vijay Vilas Palace at Mandvi in Kutch district, Gujarat, 60 kilometres from Bhuj — the sea-facing summer palace of Kutch Maharaja Khengarji III (ruled 1875-1942), designed by Jaipur architect Vedram and built with Jaisalmer sandstone, Italian marble and Burmese teak over nine years. The palace is the finest surviving Indo-Saracenic royal palace on the Gujarat coast, with a central dome, octagonal towers, and distinctive Rajput-Mughal fusion architecture. The 450-acre complex includes the palace, gardens, a private beach, and the royal family's teak forest. The 2001 Bhuj earthquake caused structural damage; the 2010s restoration preserved the facade. The palace was used as the location for the 2001 Bollywood film 'Lagaan' and the 1970s TV series 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'. Managed by the Kutch royal family as a heritage hotel.
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 22.838, 69.357
Connections (1)
- Kutch royalBhuj Aina Mahal
The Aina Mahal at Bhuj and the Vijay Vilas at Mandvi are the court architecture of the Jadeja rulers of Kutch, two centuries apart — one an eighteenth-century hall of mirrors built with Ram Singh Malam, a Kutchi sailor shipwrecked off Holland who trained there for seventeen years and came back with glass, clock and tile-making; the other a 1929 seaside palace in Indian-Saracenic. Both survived the 2001 earthquake damaged.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Vijaya Vilas Palace”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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