Moti Bagh Palace, Patiala

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One of the awesome sight seen places in Patiala, Moti Bagh Palace, is situated near Gurdwara Motibagh and has been attracting hoards of tourists and the local people for its fabulous architecture and beautiful sculptures. This palace of architectural expertise has become the integral part of the history of Patiala.

The construction was started when Maharaja Narinder Singh was the king of Patiala and the construction got completed during the reign of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh in the early years of 20th Century. The estimated cost for building this largest residential of the world is about Rs. Five lakhs. The architecture of Moti Bagh Palace was designed after the marvelous Shalimar Gardens, Lahore.

This one of the largest abodes in the globe has been used by the Patiala regal family as their residence till the late 40’s and the family then shifted to the New Moti Bagh Palace which became their permanent residence since then. The initial construction was started by the Maharaja of Patiala, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh in 1847 and the later expansions of this residential building was done by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh in 1920s. After India got Independence in the year 1947, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh presented this great building to the Indian administration. The Indian Government used the part of this Royal Residence as Museum and a taxidermy art gallery. The North Zone Cultural Centre is also here.

This magnificent four-storey residential building’s beautification has gone to a different height with a surrounding terraced garden and water ways. It has a palace made of glasses called Sheesh Mahal. This heritage building has huge walls made of stones, the arched front areas. Highly decorated grills and crowing domes adding manifold beauty of the palace.

The back part of this wonderful palace is now an amusement park attracting visitors of all ages from within the country and around the world. There are two huge water tanks on both side of the front area of Sheesh Mahal. There is an amazing rope bridge which is named as Lakshman Jhula, connecting Moti Bagh Palace with Bansar Garh, which has the Natural History Gallery. This place attracts the tourists with its display of stuffed animals and birds. The most of the main Old Moti Bagh Palace now has the National Institute of Sports and Sports Museum (popularly known as SAI), and has been the center of training for thousands of promising sports personalities.

The entire palace is ornamented with beautiful sculptures and antique art pieces and has been attracting the people not only interested in history or art but from all other spheres also. There is no doubt that this magnificent residential building of the Royal Family of Patiala is the creator of history itself.

One can reach Patiala very easily and visit all the places of attractions. The nearest airport is Chandigarh and one can take cabs to reach Patiala. Trains services are there connecting Patiala to the different other important cities of India. Patiala can be reached from the surrounding areas using the bus services also.