Ancient India isn't necessarily old

Before we arrived in India, we knew that we would take a trip to Mysore (pronounced as it is spelled, My-sore.) Everyone said it was a must-see trip. They were right. I won't bore you with details about history. We visited an old palace with fascinating paintings, a couple of Hindu temples and a church. We walked part way down from the temple at the top of a hill (the only hill we've been on) along a sacred pilgrimage path to the stone-carved statue of a bull. It's about 20 feet high.

Ann being blessed by the priest, receiving the "bindi" dot on her forehead. (Men receive one, too.)
Civilization is 5000 years old here, but almost nothing is particularly old. A beautiful temple near here was completed in the 1990s. Sculptures in temples with bright colors turn out to be re-painted every 20 years or so. The most impressive building in Bangalore was built in 1956. A 17th century temple's most remarkable feature was built in 1978.

So it is with Mysore Palace. When the previous palace burned it was replaced with a modern building (with electricity). No expense was spared. It was completed in 1912.
(Pictures with the sun behind the building don't come out well.)

So it's not really that old, but it's what you expect the palace of a maharaja (king) to be. Many great buildings have one grand room; this palace has three jaw-dropping rooms. They are the royal wedding hall, the colonnaded hall where the king held public court (that stretches the length of the building), and the hall where he held private meetings with his advisers. All are designed to impress, and they do so brilliantly.

Unfortunately for you, photography is not allowed inside, so all I have are outside views. (Photos taken with the sun at the right angle come out much better.)

In fact, there appear to be no pictures of the inside to be had, for love or money. They do (sort of) make up for it by lighting the exterior once a week. We weren't there, but I've seen pictures and it is truly grand.

Here is a link to some pictures that other people have taken at night: Mysore at night

Fortunately for you, we do have photographs of one other encounter at the Palace. We met elephants.

They were being taken to their quarters for the night and we walked over to them. Their handlers tried to get us to climb aboard, but we didn't.
It was enough to touch the elephants.

We were also "blessed" by the elephants.


In payment, the elephants took paper money in their trunks and lifted them to their mahouts. It was a lot of fun.