Hill Palace, Tripunithura

Hill Palace is an archaeological museum and palace located in the Tripunithura neighbourhood of Kochi city in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the largest archeological museum in the state and was the imperial administrative office and official residence of the Cochin Maharaja. Built in 1865, the palace complex consists of 49 buildings in the traditional architectural style, spreading across 54 acres (220,000 m2). The complex has an archaeological museum, a heritage museum, a deer park, a pre-historic park and a children’s park.[1] The campus of the museum is home to several rare species of medicinal plants. Presently the palace has been converted into a museum by The Kerala State Archaeology Department and is open to public. The palace is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the city centre and is approachable by road and rail.

Hill Palace
Palace front entrance
Established1865
LocationTripunithura, Kochi, India
TypeArcheological museum, History museum
OwnerGovt. of Kerala
Public transit accessRoad, Rail

The Centre for Heritage Studies (CHS), an autonomous research and training institute set up by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala also functions at the site. CHS is designated as the 'Manuscript Conservation Centre' (MCC) and Manuscript Resource Centre (MRC) by the National Mission for Manuscripts.[2]

History
South Block, Hill Palace Museum
A view of the Palace from its Northern side

Hill Palace was built in 1865 by the Maharaja Of Cochin and is now the largest archaeological museum in Kerala.[3]

The official capital of Kingdom of Kochi was located previously in Thrissur and the royal office of Maharaja as well as the court was all located in the city. However, as per ritualistic customs, the seat of Queen of Kochi (Penvazhithampuran) was seen as Royal capital as Kochi royal family had matrilineal traditions and the queen was regarded as sovereign of the state under whose authority the King ruled. Since 1755, the Queen and her retinue lived in Tripunithura, thereby making the city as official capital. Also the Prince Rama Varma was raised in Tripunithura, thereby preferred to live in the city even after coronation as King, rather moving to Thrissur. Thus for his benefit, a royal office was constructed in 1865. Initially it started off as royal office, court building and offices of royal secretaries and nobles of the court, soon more and more structures were added to main structure to various purposes. Soon, an imperial residence building was also constructed for the residence of the King and his immediate family though other members of Cochin Royal family had their own allocated bungalows and official residences.

The palace was handed over to the Government of Kerala by the Cochin Royal Family and in 1980, the palace was taken over by the Department of Archaeology and later converted into a museum. It was opened to the public in 1986. The museum and its campus is one among the popular shooting sites for the Malayalam film industry. The Horse cart gallery and Weapons gallery houses a lot of historical artifacts.

The museum gardens are also some of the last green refuge of the town. A checklist of fauna found within the gardens, prepared by Sandeep Varma and Gokul Vinayan, has been published under the title 'The Fauna of Hill Palace'

Museum

The museum displays 14 categories of exhibits including Crown and ornaments of erst while Cochin royal family, paintings, sculptures in stone and marble, weapons, inscriptions, coins etc. The major share of attractions in this museum are contributed by the Cochin Royal Family with some exhibits from the Paliam Devaswom and the department of Archaeology. It has a gold crown embedded with precious stones and many valuable coins, ornaments, majestic beds and samples of epigraphy. The famous Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu was shot here.

The Palace is open to public everyday from 10 AM to 12.30 PM and 2 PM to 5 PM except Mondays and national/state holidays.

In the media

The Hill Palace has been the location for many films in Malayalam. Manichitrathazhu being the most famous movie shot at this location, many film makers have utilized this place for shooting purpose. Some of the popular films[4] shot in the palace include Moonnam Mura (1988), Manichitrathazhu (1993), Pingami (1994), Kaliyoonjal (1997), Dreams (2000), Chotta Mumbai (2007) etc.

See also

References
  1. The magnificent hill palace at Thripunithura (Thiruvankulam panchayat, ernakulam district of Kerala), was once the Headquarters of the illustrious Kochi Royal family Archived 2008-10-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Namami.org Archived 4 June 2009 at the Wayback MachineNational Mission for Manuscripts.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 March 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "A dekko into past glory". The Hindu. 4 December 2011.

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