Jai Vilas Palace Museum – The grandeur of the Scindias of Gwalior

Jai Vilas Palace, also known as Jai Vilas Mahal is located in the city of Gwalior in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The palace was established by Jayajirao Scindia, the Maharaja of Gwalior in 1874 and is still the residence of his descendants, the former royal Maratha Scindia dynasty. A part of this palace was converted into a museum in 1964 which occupies 35 rooms of the palace.

It is a fine example of European architecture, designed and built by Sir Michael Filose. A combination of architectural styles, the first storey is Tuscan, the second Italian-Doric and the third Corinthian. The area of the Jai Vilas Palace is 12,40,771 square feet and it is particularly famous for its large Durbar Hall. The interior of the Durbar Hall is decorated with gilt and gold furnishings and adorned with a huge carpet and gigantic chandeliers. It is 100 feet long, 50 feet wide and 41 feet in height.

Supposedly, eight elephants were suspended from the Durbar Hall ceiling to check it could cope with two 12.5 m high 3.5 ton chandeliers with 250 light bulbs, said to be the largest pair in the world.

A visit to the palace makes you explore the royal times of the Maratha Scindia dynasty and will help you to flip back the pages of luxurious lifestyle of the kings and queens of those times. Items like cut-glass furniture, stuffed tigers etc. are exhibited in the museum.

The main entrance of the palace

One of the fountains inside the forecourt of the palace

Entrance to the museum

Some of the exhibits

Some of the exhibits

One of the exhibits from the museum

Some of the exhibits

Some of the exhibits

Various musical instruments

Some of the exhibits

Skull of a wild buffalo

One of the stuffed tigers exhibited in the museum

One of the chandeliers

Some of the exhibits

The traditional dining area

Dining area for the visiting dignitaries

Inside the palace

Beautifully adorned staircase

The durbar hall with the huge chandeliers

One of the chandeliers in the durbar hall

Durbar hall

One of the exhibits

This area is dedicated for exhibiting the life and times of Madhavrao Scindia the son of the last ruling maharaja and leading politician and congress minister who died in a plane crash on 30 Sep 2001