ARCHITECTURAL
CRITICISM
CHOWMAHALLA PALACE
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MAC 1ST YEAR
01 Introduction
The Chow Mahalla Palace or
Chowmahallatu (4 Palaces), is a palace
of the Nizams of Hyderabad state. The
construction of Chow Mahalla Palace
started in the year 1790 by Nizam
Salavat Jung and was completed
between 1857 and 1869 during the reign
of 5th Nizam, Afsar-udi-Daulah, Asaf Jav
V. The palace contains of Durbar hall,
council hall and the four mahals are
Taniyah Mahal , Aftab Mahal, Afzal Mahal
, Mehta Mahal.
2
02
Criticism
The planning of the palace is asymmetrical when compared to the other
Mughal palaces.
The palace was spread on 45 acres of land, due to the growth of urban
population at present it shrinks to 12 acres of land with two main courtyards.
It reflects the architecture style of Indo-Islamic and European.
The spatial organization of palace divides into administrative and residential
zones.
The arches ,stucco and intricate details represents of Islamic architecture
while the columns represents of European architecture style. The intricate
details and stucco work gives out the grandeur feeling.
The rooms that surrounds the courtyard used to be a guest rooms ,which
converted into the spaces for craftsmen work and to sell their products.
The Darbar hall, Aftab mahal and Afzal mahal are converted into the
museums of Nizam Dynasty where it gives the visitors to experience and
learn about it.
The spaces are well ventilated which provides adequate lighting during
the day time.
As the palace is converted into the museum few spaces are negligible
to access and no interpretative signs which is difficult to understand
each section of palace.
The influence of external architectural features like European and
Persian architecture styles gives grandeur to the palace but dilute the
influence of local architectural style.
The maintenance of the palace is difficult as the details need to be
kept in intact.
As the palace was built during 19th century its spatial planning was
according to that era which is difficult to adapt to the modern
standards.
Conclusion
Chow Mahalla palace stands as one of the importance to Hyderabad’s heritage. Though
balancing its maintenance is difficult, it shows the impact of external influences and
showcase the grandeur of the nizam’s period. Though it has a well spatial organization
the increase footfall of the people makes crowded which implicates the visitors to
completely experience the palace and also impacts of the decorative features of
building.
