Sheesh Mahal Patiala
The Sheesh Mahal is the famous tourist place in Patiala. Maharaja Narinder Singh built this Mahal in 1847. The design and the decoration of the palace was chosen by Maharaja Narinder Singh to a large extent. One section of Sheesh Mahal is decorated with colored glass and mirror work and it is also known as ‘Palace of Mirrors’. It is situated behind the Moti Bagh Palace. It is a triple storey building. There is a bridge across the artificial lake in the centre of the palace. This bridge is known as Lakshman Jhoola. There are gardens and fountains on the sides of the lake. Sheesh Mahal was the residential palace of Maharajas of Patiala. To give the artistic look on the walls and ceilings of the Sheesh Mahal, Maharaja Narinder Singh engaged artistic painters from Rajasthan and Kangra. The artist made the floral designs on the walls and ceilings. Their art depict the vision of Bihari, Surdas and Keshav in the poetic form and in colors. The paintings of these artists show the very old stories in the style of Rajasthan.
There is a museum in the Sheesh Mahal. In the museum, there are paintings of Jaya Deva’s poetry and Geet Govinda. The Kangra paintings on the walls of the museum show the Krishan Lila in very artistic way. There are also various fine objects of art like art of Tibet, Punjab’s ivory work objects, objects of Kashimiri art and wooden furniture of Maharajas time. The collection of these objects shows the life style of Maharajas. The large portraits of maharajas beautify the walls of the museum. The Medal collection of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh and Maharaja Yadwinder Singh from all over the world lies in the museum of Sheesh Mahal. There are about 3200 medals collected from different countries of the world by Maharaja from 12 to 20th century. There is also a collection of coins of 19th century. These coins show the history of different countries trade. The North zone culture centre is situated in the sheesh Mahal. On 6th November 1985, our Prime Minister Late Shri. Rajiv Gandhi inaugurated this centre. Every Year many cultural programmes and heritage festivals are organized in Sheesh Mahal.
Sir,
I would like to contact the Curator of the Sheesh Mahal Museum in Patiala.
I am coming to India in two weeks’ time, and would very much like to take the opportunity to view the collection of Medals, which includes the medals and decorations of my great-great-great-great Uncle, which the Maharajah Bhupinder Singh bought exactly 100 years ago for his famous collection.
I would be very grateful if you could let me know how I might contact the Curator.
Thank you for your kind assistance.
Yours sincerely,
James Hill
Dr James G Hill
Cleghorn Mains
LANARK
ML11 7RN
Scotland, UK
+44 1555 662190
+44 7810 545905
hi,
this is good website on patiala
sheesh mahal is very beatiful
Not a word about the beautiful statues of the Maharaja and the British royalty. Do you think the brief writeup is complete without a word on this aspect!
@Duke Sekhon
We are little busy but we’ll update this article soon. If you could contribute, that would be great.
splendid piece of art
sheesh mahal is very beautiful place ,so i want to see cultural programmes organised in sheesh mahal again
I am from australia my father is an indian in my summer vacation my family came back to India we went to patiala and saw the sheesh mahal it was awesome and very nice