Welcome to one of the finest palace of the world which showcases the high end luxury of the Nizam’s daily life.

The beauty of the palace gets more intensified after coming close to it i.e. main façade stays in the veil and only visible when you approach closer to it.

The Falaknuma, or Mirror of the Sky, is perched atop the Kohi-Tur hill that is 2000 feet high and lies to the south of the city.

Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of Hyderabad, who had earlier built a Palace known as Tur Mahal on the same site had named the hill as Kohi-Tur after a hill in the Sinai/Sumnar Desert.

“Falak” In Urdu, implies sky and “numa” means like. So the literal translation comes to “Its Like the Sky” and poetically it means "Star of Heaven" .

 It is a fine blend of the Italian and Tudor architecture. The Palace was the residence of the Sixth Nizam after he purchased it from Sir Vikar-ul-Umra, the Prime Minister of the Nizam who built it. Since the death of the Nizam VI in March 1911, the Palace has been mainly used as a royal guest-house and even visiting the Palace was considered as a status symbol by the European guests. Taj Hotels and Resorts have taken this Palace on lease from Princess Esra, wife of HEH The Nizam VIII (the present Nizam) Mukarram Jah.

Taj Hotels and Resorts hired Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo, who have over 60 years of experience in design consultancy for the hospitality, leisure and entertainment industries, to create the conceptual architecture of the Palace. P.T. Wijaya, a landscape consultancy firm based out of Bali, prominent in designing interiors, courtyards and pools was employed to restore the landscapes. Tony Corbett from Corbett Designs was responsible for planning out the lighting designs of the whole Palace.  Ruya Mocan, a cousin of the Princess is responsible for delivering the soft and hard finishes for all the Garden/Luxury rooms and the Zenana suites in the Palace. A part of fabrics, upholstery, furniture and finishes are being made or sourced from Turkey.

The construction stone was laid on 3rd March 1884. Palace took 9 years to complete and covers a total area of 939,712-sq-metre. It was partially made with marble imported from Italy and limestone. It cost Sir Viqar all of Rs. 4,000,000 in his day, and almost bankrupted him in the process Sir Viqar-Ul-Umra, served as the Prime Minister of the Hyderabad state from 1894 to 1901. He was the fifth Amir of a noble family, the Paigahs, and was the maternal grandson of Asaf Jah III.

"Paigah", meaning pomp and high rank was conferred as an honorable title by the second Nizam Ali Khan, to Abul Fateh Khan, Taig Jung Bahadur Shums Ul Umrah in appreciation of his loyal service. "Paigahs" were ranked second to the Nizams to whom they were allied by matrimony.

You would be wondering that how this palace got into the hands of Nizam. There is a small history attached to it “In 1897, when invited as a guest to the Palace, Mehboob Ali Pasha, the sixth Nizam also the brother-in-law of the Prime Minister could not decide whether to leave the place or not. He stayed there for a day then week and eventually a month. It was then that Sir Viqar gracefully gifted the Palace to the Nizam saying “It was made just for you, My Lord!” It was too gracious a gift to be accepted by the Nizam. Hence, Nizam bought the palace”.

The Palace laid out in the shape of a scorpion, was Architect William Mariet zodiac sign, with two stings spread out as wings on the north. As per the original structure of the Palace, the middle part that resembles the body of the scorpion comprises of the Zenana Mahal on one side and the Mess Khana i.e. Kitchen and the Telephone Exchange on the other. The Gol Bungalow that forms the tail has a dome structure with an iron protrusion which looks like the sting of the scorpion.

Nizam VI stayed on and off in the Palace from 1897 – 1911, official residence being Purani Haveli. Later it was used as a royal guest house hosting King George the 5th and Queen Mary as the 1st guest followed by Prince of Wales in 1906 and then by The Duke of Windsor, and other Monarchs, Heads of States and Governors over a period of time. Dr Rajendra Prasad was the First President of India to stay here in 1951 and also the last guest at this incredible palace for many years.

The Falaknuma Palace encloses a plethora of unusual and rare treasures that was collected and preserved by the Nizam. These treasures include statues, paintings, furniture, books and manuscripts. It also housed the most sought after collection of Jade that is considered as one of the most priceless and precious ancient stones in the world. All the precious jewels and stones are either with Royal family or with Government of India.

Talking about the origin of the word “Nizam”, this title is a shortened version of Nizam-ul-Mulk, meaning Regulator of the Realm, belonging to the Asaf Jah dynasty, native sovereigns of Hyderabad state, since 1719.

In 1713, the Mughal Emperor, Farruksiyar, appointed a twenty six year old warrior Mir Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqi as the new Governor of Deccan. Mir Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqi was the grandson of Chin Qilij Khan, Aurangzeb's brave commander who lost his life during the siege of Golconda. The young mughal viceroy proved to be an able administrator and earned the title of Nizam-ul-Mulk.

In October 1724, Nizam-ul-Mulk became the Mughal Subedar or Governor of the six Deccan provinces - Aurangabad, Bidar, Bijapur, Berar, Adilabad and Hyderabad.

The Asaf Jah dynasty had ten rulers only seven were given the titles. There is a legend about the first Nizam states that, on his way to the Deccan, lost his way to hunting trips he was offered some kulchas (an Indian bread) by a holy man and was asked to eat as many as he could. The Nizam could eat seven kulchas and the holy man then prophesied that seven generations of his family would rule the state, which proved to be true as there were only 7 Nizams who ruled prior to Independence.

Cannon kept on two sides are made by fusion of five metals, also known as “Panchdhatu”. It comprises of five metals i.e. copper, gold, lead, silver and iron.

The Coat of Arms painted in yellow belongs to Nizam VI Mehboob Ali Khan. The coat of arms is held up on either side by two lions and has the various titles awarded to Nizam VI depicted in Persian. The translation of those titles is listed below that in English. The various titles adorning the coat of arms are:

H.H. RUSTUM-I DOWRAN, MUZAFFAR UL MAMALIK ASAF JAH MIR MAHBOOB ALI KHAN, BAHADUR FATEH JUNG, SIPAH SALAR ARISTU I ZAMAN 

NIZAM – UD – DOWLA NIZAM – UL – MULK

Grand Cross of the Bath (G.C.B), Grand Commander and Star of India (G.C.S.I) HYDERABAD DECCAN.

Look at these two red dots, small dot depicts the place where Nizam’s vehicle used to stop and bigger dots depicts the place where commander-in-chief used to stand and salute on entrance of Nizam’s vehicle.

We will move the Nizam way as Nizam used to take stair from left while entering in the palace and right stairs to take the exit.

Let’s move towards the main Foyer, look at these stained glass that is fitted on door. There are various Tudor faces that have been painted at the centre of these glasses. The lead channels are painted using gold paint. The restoration artists suggest that the glasses used in those days were all hand-made.

This beautiful marble vestibule that always seems delightfully cool even on the hottest day, is fitted with marble seats surrounding an exquisite fountain. This comprises a marble coped basin from the centre of which springs a pedestal, beautifully carved, upon which are figures of cherubim(winged celestial angel) supporting a basin which forms the second base;  from this again rise three cherubs, back to back, supporting a three-cornered basket that forms the third base. This is surrounded by dolphins spurting fine spray of water onto the delicate ferns.

The entire corridor is a “faux marble” fresco artwork. Every painting has a three dimensional effect, one of the major highlights being the painting on the ceiling of an eagle that has its eye revolving to every corner of the room. It was a master piece painted by Jean Gaudier, a French painter.

Most of the colors used in these paintings are vegetable colors. The rocks and mountains on the other hand have been painted by developing the colors naturally. The restoration artists are using the same archaic methods to crush the mountain rock and mix it with tree gum to develop the rock and mountain colors. Using the readily available rock colors in the market could not match the colors in the old paintings. . The artists mixed proportionate amounts of White Zinc powder to fade the readymade colors to get the appropriate shade. The antique feel to the shade was brought out by mixing the colours with water infused with tea leaves.

On your right is Nizam Study room, where you can find personalized stationery used by the Last Nizam. The telephone and electrical system was introduced in 1883 by Osler which was one of the largest at that time. One can see the telephone directory kept which used to have direct numbers for President and other dignitaries.

This antique clock was manufactured by East India Co, Calcutta. Unique feature in this clock is that it creates music every half an hour and man strikes the dong every hour. On the corners, one can see angels in accordance with palace theme i.e. star of heaven.

The restoration of the carpets at Falaknuma Palace was done by Shroff’s Carpets, UP.

This is reception area which used to be the Nizam’s royal master bedroom. It used to have pulley system which enables one to lower down the light while reading. A business centre is also located for secretarial services.

On your left is Waiting room or later called as Children room, where you can see large portrait of their teacher Mrs. Claude Clerk, unique thing about this painting is that you can see different look of physical appearance at different angles.

Behind this room is known as Children room/Kings bed room, they have the portraits of Azam jah and Moazzam jah.

(Walking from main foyer towards Library)

This organ contains 36 cylinders which were used individually to produce different kinds of music.

The Library is one of the grandest rooms in the Palace with a ceiling of ornate teak and rosewood coffers (ornamental sunken panel), each with superbly carved panels. The Library with a walnut carved roof is a replica of the one at Windsor Castle. The library has one of the finest collections of the holy Quran in India. It hosts a number of priceless first and second editions of books from that era. The total number of books is nearly 5900. The Library boasts of a rare collection of books like the first edition of the Titanic, Encyclopedia from the early 1900 etc. We can see in the middle of each panel the initial V&O is engraved which were the initials of Prime Minister Sir Vikar-ul-Umra.  

The amazing fact is that the wood in this palace has not sullied and the restoration experts only touched them up to bring back the old shine.

The restoration started by building a massive inventory database of the objects in the Palace and books in the library. This was a mammoth task carried over 11 months by the ex-director of Salar Jung Museum, Mr. B Rao and he has ensured that not a single item was missed out.

The restoration of the leather upholstery on the chairs and sofas across the different rooms in the Main Palace was done by Baron Leather Inc. The project was personally supervised by the founder, Mr. Bijal Maniar and the herculean task took around 3 years to complete.

On the right of the library you will find a Ladies sitting room/Gossip room. All the ladies used to meet, have tea and socialize.

One can see begum’s bed room along with washroom having a bath tub. Here one can see the furniture have same V&O inscription i.e. initials of Sir Vikar-ul-Umra. The furniture resembles the façade of the palace.

The bath tub is made out of single piece of marble. Along the sides of the panel you can see different tubes that would carry the hot and cold water and also feed the pores that are made on the vertical edge of the frame. The water jutting out of these pores gives a Jacuzzi effect while taking a shower.

Towards the left from the Library is the conference room where once Nizam used to have breakfast and the room behind that was used as pantry. There are total 16 chairs in the hall and it is currently being used as a conference and board room.

Grand Staircase

This is suspended marble staircase with four ornamental pillar supports on the ground. There are statues of Muses from Greek Mythology made of Italian Carara marble all along the railing of the staircase. Muses were the Greek goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences. They were believed to inspire all artists, especially poets, philosophers, and musicians.

1. Calliope (the 'beautiful of speech'): chief of the muses and muse of epic or heroic poetry; carries a writing tablet
2. Erato (the 'amorous one'): muse of love or erotic poetry, lyrics, and marriage songs; is often seen with a lyre and a crown of roses
3. Euterpe (the 'well-pleasing'): muse of music and lyric poetry; carries a flute
4. Melpomene (the 'chanting one'): muse of tragedy; is often seen with a tragic mask
5. Polyhymnia or Polymnia (the '[singer] of many hymns'): muse of sacred song, oratory, lyric, singing and rhetoric; is often seen with a pensive expression
6. Terpsichore (the '[one who] delights in dance'): muse of choral song and dance; is often seen dancing and carrying a lyre
7. Thalia (the 'blossoming one'): muse of comedy and bucolic poetry; is often seen with a comic mask
8. Urania (the 'celestial one'): muse of astronomy; carries a pair of compasses and celestial globe.

There were total of 9 statues but now it is only eight left due to breakage of one of the statues, Clio (the 'glorious one'): muse of history; carries a scroll and books.

Each one has an inscription of the maker Prof. Pietro Lazzarini Carrara.

All along the Marble Staircase we have 36 photographs of British viceroys who worked as the Governor General of India and also Viceroys.

Above the central hall we have beautiful wooden ceiling which doesn’t have any vertical and horizontal support and it has not been re-polished till now. Its height is 57ft/18 meter and glass stained windows on the walls throw a spectrum of colors into the palace.
 
Above the staircase there are seven big oil paintings of Mahaboob Ali Khan Nizam VI,  Sir Vikar-ul-Umra and other relatives of Sir Vikar-ul-Umra.

Jade Room

Jade room has a timber paneled false ceiling with gilded molding in timber & lime stucco(a plaster made of cement, sand and lime). In the center of the room there used to be a single cabinet of glass having jeweled ornaments and curios worth “one crore of rupees” and “which could not be duplicated for three and half crore rupees (3,50,000,000)” in early 20th century. Its value cannot be less than twenty times today or much more. But today, only the central cabinet stands without any jewels and now has a beautiful Chinese Vase in that space.

There is attention given to symmetry in the room which has parquet wooden flooring made of rose wood, white cedar and padauk wood(reddish wood with striped black grain). The design of the Jade room is a treat for all those who love symmetry and balance in their lives. Right from the floor design to the ceiling and the parapet design to the wardrobe structure in the room, everything follows a definite pattern. There are four showcases placed on the four corners of the centre section in the room and each one hosts the picture of a lady representing a season – Autumn, Winter, Summer and Spring.

Venetian Chandeliers adorn the ceiling of different rooms. All these chandeliers are of Belgian make and custom-made by Osler. The chandelier is stamped on the central metal support 'OSLER'. The firm of F and C Osler of London and Birmingham were the leading makers of chandeliers and lighting during the Nineteenth Century. Each of these chandeliers weighed almost 500-600 kilograms. The lead content in these glasses was comparatively higher and that made it look clearer despite having a lower sparkling effect. The largest amongst the chandeliers adorns the ceiling centre in the Dining Hall and has 42 branches.

The most amazing part was that the nuts and bolts had not rusted and made the dismantling process a lot simpler.

The Palace fans are all with 3-blades and they are configured to operate on 110V AC. The 60-odd fans that were installed in the Palace have been rewired to work on 220V AC. Fans located in jade room have crystal hanging rod and cut glass on the motor which makes it really beautiful.

Afternoon tea is served from 3pm to 5 pm. Jade verandah is used for breakfast in winters which has the stunning view of the city and frolicking peacocks on the main lawns.

Durbar Hall

Durbar Hall is an imperial space used primarily for large gatherings and the room is also referred to as the ‘Ballroom in Paradise’. With timber floors and a stucco dado (rectangular groove cut into board) along the walls painted over with an effect to suggest a wooden finish, this opulent hall is fitted with heavy velvet drapes and furniture in the best traditions of the Rococo (Rococo is a style of 18th century French art and interior design.)

Durbar Hall is the place where some parts of coronation ceremony of Prince
Mukarram Jah Bahadur took place after he was coroneted as the VIII Nizam of
Hyderabad in 1967. This is one of the most beautiful rooms in the palace and is said to look like the Mythological Indra Bhavan.

One can see the old pictures of Durbar Hall as well but this place has never changed.

It has beautiful wooden ceiling, parquet flooring, walnut wood furniture and
Belgian chandeliers.

The Durbar Hall flooring consists of diamond shaped and triangle shaped wooden pieces that fit together forming the adjacent design pattern. The pattern in Durbar Hall is made out of Oak that is imported from Europe or U.S. and also Burmese Irul (now called Pinkardo). There are 600 such panels that furnish the floor in the Durbar Hall.

The major challenge for the restoration team was to find the shapes of missing pieces and also create a new piece with exact shape and size of original, so that it fits into the jig-saw puzzle of the pattern on the floor. The restoration process started with purchase of the same oak timber that was used to develop the pieces that fitted the pattern. The team identified the missing pieces of the pattern by studying the symmetry of the patterns that appeared on the floor.  Bringing out the sunken pieces to level the floor surface was another challenge. The final finish of the floor is done by sanding it and oiling it with Pine Tree oil made by BONA.

101 Dining Room

101 Dining Room has the world’s longest dining table with 101 chairs. The table is 100 feet/ 31 meter long, made in seven pieces and can seat 101 people at a time. The chairs in the 101 Dining Hall and Library had leather covers. The Dining Hall has an exquisite acoustic system where one can hear a conversation at either end of the table.

Menu cards in form of paintings are displayed on the top of the wall and two metal dummy waiters at two sides, holding tray to keep pan and cigarettes. There is beautiful wooden flooring and all the walls are painted like wood even though they are actually limestone walls. The important article in this hall is the Nizam chair. Compared to other chairs the arm rest of this particular chair is slightly higher than other chairs to indicate higher stature of the person. The Dining Hall has Five big Belgian Chandeliers adorning the ceiling and it has he biggest chandelier which consists of 42 branches.

Card & Chess Room

Stucco on walls to simulate timber veneering and embossed leather mounted on walls bathes this room in warm masculine hues of timber and leather. Photographs of royals of Kapurthala adorn the room, lending it an intimate and informal flavor of royalty.

The leather used in the chairs and sofas of the Billiards Room, Cards Room and Hookah Room is of camel skin. The hand-made carving on the leather was so intricate that every square-inch had over 10,000 designs on it. The leather is almost a century old and due to seepage and incision of moisture in them, it had become very hard over time and simply broke if one poked at it.

The chairs and sofas in the Card Room had leather with embroidery on it. Over a period of time, though the design could be made out, the color of the threads had faded and it was very difficult to regenerate the old-look colors. A special drum for dying was ordered for almost 20 times the price of a normal drum. The threads that would be used for embroidery were dyed in the special composition that would bring out the old-look color. The entire process of dyeing and re-dyeing the leather and the threads was carried out in Mumbai. Special Mills and Dyeing area were booked for over 9 months. Once this was done, the exquisite designs were embroidered on the leather. It took around 1.5 years to complete.

May I please invite you to have the feel of leather embossing on walls, you will be surprised to know that this is not leather, it is copper beaten into sheets.

 The Card and Chess Room had copper yarn used in its fabrics. The restoration team approached a special loom and got 80 kilograms of artificial copper yarn made at a price that they usually pay for 500 Kgs order.

Billiards Room

The restoration of the carpets at Falaknuma Palace was done by Shroff’s Carpets. This yarn was imported from New Zealand to ensure perfect match with the original yarn used in the original carpets. It is of 30 counts and of the highest quality. It was dyed around 200-300 times, which meant approx. 15 times per color, to match the exact color as in the old carpet. The entire process took almost 3 years to make the perfect samples that were approved.

The Billiards Table is a make of Burroughs and Watts. Burroughs and Watts is one of the oldest and most respected names in the billiards and snooker world, originally founded in 1835 and granted a Royal Warrant by Queen Victoria. The cue sticks in this room are also original and an ivory cue sticks with the Nizams initials are also part of the treasures of the palace. Corners of tables used to have stretched leather to give rebounding effect but restoration was not possible as whole leather crumbled hence rubber was used.

The fabrics found in the Main Palace are at least 70 years old. All the original fabrics have been imported from Europe and the intricate design patterns on them are 100% hand-made. Kamax Silks were involved in the restoration effort. The entire process of fabric restoration has taken around 4 years. It started in 2003 and the final fabric was supplied in 2007.

Hookah room

Hookah is an exclusive male domain with walls covered entirely with patterned
embossed leather paneling and a rich mahogany finished timber paneled ceiling.
It has artifacts such as a silver “hookah” (Hubble bubble) and timber screens.
This filter hookah has four smoking pipes enabling four persons to smoke at a
time. The walls have beautiful leather panels, camel leather chairs, Venetian
Chandelier surrounded by beautiful wooden cabinets on all four sides.

One can enjoy the classic cigar and hookah from the menu at Jade terrace.

Trims and tassels were difficult to restore as the original trims were made up of real silk. The designs on them are 100% hand-made and represent the French patterns that were prevalent 150 years ago. The yarn used for redevelopment of the tassels was imported from Switzerland. The yarn was ordered to be of Mat- finish. This brought about the antique look when it was dyed. The usual turnaround time for production of any tassel by Heritage India Ltd. has been a maximum of 45-50 days. However the challenge of recreating these tassels took them entire six months to finish.

(Moving down the grand staircase)

These stairs are one slab of marble and it was designed in such a manner that it was very comfortable and effortless to walk. One can see these beautiful lanterns, The red stained glasses used in some of them had broken and the artists developed a new stained glass by firing the normal glasses with special chemicals.
Please see and feel the walls which look like marble but it is the marble finish done on limestone walls.

(Now moving from façade towards coronation room and clock tower)

One can see and ask why the color of the palace is bluish grey. It’s because it showcases the hues of colour of the sky and if seen from distant on a cloudy day merges into the landscape of sky.

Coronation Hall is the only structure in the entire Palace complex which follows the Mughal architectural vocabulary. It has intricate furniture inlayed with depictions from - Hinduism, Islam, Chinese and Thai.

This is the Rajasthani garden as it is inspired from Rajputana architecture in the three magnificently constructed Jharokha overlooking the city.

Clock Tower has imposing cast iron gate and two leaves and the crown of Nizam (Dastar) is depicted on the gate. It has two clocks on the tower which faces east and west. Clocks are being restored.

The Princess Bungalow was previously an ammunition store of the army which was demolished nearly three years ago and on the site Princess Bungalow was built which is presently being refurbished.

(Moving towards Gol Bungalow through guest corridors)

(Watch both the sides of Main courtyard)

If one looks at the rear wall of main palace, it resembles the “Buckingham Palace” and the wall of Gol bungalow resembles the “White house”

(Moving towards Gol Bungalow)

(At the pathway which leads to Spa and Zenana)