Hazarduari Palace Museum

Hazarduari Palace stands in the Lalbagh area of Murshidabad on the east bank of the Bhagirathi River in West Bengal. The name means the palace of a thousand doors, of which about 900 are real and the rest false, a feature designed to confuse intruders. The palace was built between 1829 and 1837 for Nawab Humayun Jah of Bengal, who ruled under British supervision, and was designed by Colonel Duncan McLeod of the Bengal Engineers. It is a large Neoclassical building with a grand staircase, Doric columns and a long colonnaded front facing a lawn and the Imambara. The palace later passed to the government and was converted into a museum under the Archaeological Survey of India. About 20 galleries are open to visitors, displaying roughly 4,000 objects, among them weapons, paintings, porcelain, manuscripts, furniture, coins and chandeliers. The armoury has swords, guns, daggers and cannon from the Nawabs of Bengal, while the Durbar Hall holds a very large chandelier said to be among the biggest in India. The galleries also include portraits of the Nawabs, European paintings, and personal items of Siraj-ud-Daulah's era. The museum organises its collection by type rather than by chronology, in separate halls for arms, art and furniture. The building has been restored by the Archaeological Survey of India over several decades, with repairs to the roof, plaster and facade. Visitors usually combine it with the neighbouring Wasif Manzil, the Imambara and the Madina mosque, which share the same estate and extend the tour to a half day.