Ranjit Vilas Palace is the principal

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

and, until 2012, the residence of the royal family of the princely state of Wankaner in what is now the Indian state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

Location

The palace is located atop a hill in the Gadhio Hills and overlooks both the town of

Wankaner Wankaner is a city and a municipality in Morbi district in the State of Gujarat. Until 2013, Wankaner was part of the Rajkot district. Etymology The city was named after its location on the Machhu River, "Wankaner" translating to "riverbend" ...

and the

Machchhu River Machchhu River () is a river in Gujarat, India, with its origin in the Madla hills. Its basin has a maximum length of . The total catchment area of the basin is . The river is also occasionally transliterated as Machhu River. 1979 dam failure ...

. The palace estate covers an area of and has on its grounds the erstwhile

British Residency The British Residency, also known as the Government Guest House or Residency Bungalow, is a two-storeyed palace situated at Asramam in the city of Kollam in the Indian state of Kerala. It lies close to the site of the old Kollam Airport situate ...

, several bungalows, a garage housing a collection of

vintage car A vintage car is, in the most general sense, an old automobile, and in the narrower senses of car enthusiasts and collectors, it is a car from the period of 1919 to 1930, Either a "survivor" or one that has been fixed up according to the or ...

s and buggies and a stable for

Kathiawari horse The Kathiawari or Kathiawadi is an Indian breed of horse. It originates in the Kathiawar peninsula of Gujarat in western India, and is associated with the Kathi people of that area. It was originally bred as a desert war horse for use over ...

History

Construction of the palace began in 1907 and its foundation stone was laid by the Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, Ranjitsinhji, after whom the palace is named. Ranjitsinhji was a close friend of the

Maharana The Maharana ("Great Rana") is a variation on the Indian royal title Rana. Maharana denotes ' great king' or ' high king', similar to the word " Maharaja". The term derives from the Sanskrit title "Mahārāṇaka". Usage at the time of independ ...

of Wankaner, Amarsinhji Banesinhji, who is thought to have designed the building. It served as the residence of the royal family of Wankaner until 2012. The building suffered much damage in the Gujarat earthquake of 2001.

Architecture

The palace was designed by the Maharana of Wankaner and is a mix of several

styles of architecture An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, for ...

including the Venetian-Gothic,

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

and Rajput styles. The three-storeyed building features a Venetian-Gothic façade, carved

jharokha The Jharokha is a stone window projecting from the wall face of a building, in an upper story, overlooking a street, market, court or any other open space. A common feature in classical Indian architecture, most prominently seen in Rajput ar ...

balconies which are a feature of Rajput palaces, gothic arches and

Doric column The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

s and Franco-Italian windowpanes. There is an Italianate

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

fountain in the front garden. The sandstone of which the palace is built was sourced from quarries in Wankaner State. The palace also has a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

topped with an

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate (drum) upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. They taper smoothly upwards to a point. It is a typical ...

which suffered extensive damage in the 2001 earthquake. Much of the decor and furnishings of the palace was imported from Europe. Its interiors are richly decorated and feature

Italian marble The following is a list of various types of marble according to location. (NB: Marble-like stone which is not true marble according to geologists is included, but is indicated by ''italics'' with geologic classification given as footnote. Africa ...

flooring, Burma

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

furniture and

chandelier A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now inca ...

s from

Murano Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was o ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. The walls of the palace are adorned with what is claimed to be the largest collection of hunting trophies in India. An area of the palace was turned into a museum and the palace

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...

houses a collection of

Recent history

The 2013 Hindi film ''

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola ''Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola'' () is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language satirical black comedy film directed, co-written, co-produced, and composed by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars Pankaj Kapur, Imran Khan and Anushka Sharma in the titular role ...

'' and

Grand Masti ''Grand Masti'' (), also referred to as ''Masti 2'', is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language sex comedy film directed by Indra Kumar and produced by Ashok Thakeria. The film is a sequel to the 2004 film ''Masti (2004 film), Masti'', and the second ins ...

was shot at the Ranjit Vilas Palace as was the 2023 film

Gaslight Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...

. In 2018, thieves broke into the palace and made away with loot worth Rs 3.4 million including silver chairs, a marble gold-plated Victorian clock and a silver replica of the Wankaner House in Mumbai.

References

External links

Visit to Wankaner Palace, Gujarat
{{Coord, 22, 36, 34, N, 70, 56, 11, E, display=title Royal residences in India Palaces in Gujarat