xshayarsha:

Madurai Palace

The Thirumalai Nayakkar palace in Madurai is the city’s most impressive site after its main temple. The palace is a splendid complex of corridors and courtyards but only a fragment of its former dimensions.

Local ruler Thirumalai Nayak originally built the palace in the first half of the 17th century and it became one of the grandest palaces in Southern India. Succeeding generations were less kind and the complex was neglected, plundered and largely demolished. What we see today is largely a mid-19th century reconstruction of around a quarter of the palace’s original expanse, but it is nonetheless a marvel to behold and a superb piece of Indian architecture, blending elements of Dravidian and Islamic styles in its ornate courtyard and halls.