Interesting Facts,History & Unique Things About Falaknuma Palace

Are you looking for lesser-known facts about Falaknuma Palace? Here is a collection of interesting and fun facts about Falaknuma Palace which You’ve Never Heard Before.
Falaknuma Palace is a luxurious five-star hotel located in Hyderabad city, the capital of the Indian state of Telangana.This Paigah belongs to Hyderabad State, which was later taken over by the Nizams. Falaknuma literally means “like the sky” or “mirror of the sky“(source). If you ever go to Hyderabad, do not forget to visit this beautiful palace.

This palace was built by Nawab Viqar-Ul-Umra, who was the Prime Minister of Hyderabad. it took 9 years to build it. Due to its beauty and texture, this palace stays on the top of the list of tourists who visit Hyderabad.

Quick Info about Falaknuma Palace

• Location– Falaknuma, Hyderabad, Telangana (India)
• Construction Period – (1884-1893)
• Who built Falaknuma palace?-Nawab Viqar-Ul-Umra

Interesting Facts About Falaknuma Palace

1. The palace is built entirely with Italian marble with stained glass windows and is spread over an area of ​​about 1,011,500 square feet.
2. The Prime Minister of Hyderabad Viqar-ul-Umra used the palace as his personal residence. The palace was handed over to the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad around 1897–1898.
3. In the spring of 1897, Sir Vicar invented the fifth Nizam Mehboob Ali Pasha to the palace and proposed him to stay for a week in the palace.
4. The Paigah family says that about 20 lakh rupees were paid for the palace. The Nizam used the palace as a royal guest house.
5. Many prominent guests from all over the world have stayed in this palace. Many prominent guests such as King Edward VIII from England, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India in 1951.
6. The Library of the Taj Falaknuma Palace is a replica of the Library of Windsor Castle in England. Here is the finest collection of the Quran.
7. Until 2000, the palace was part of the Nizam family’s property which was later handed over to the Taj Hotel. Now he has full responsibility for its maintenance. The palace, which has been converted into a five-star luxury hotel, is spread over 32 acres.
8. The palace has a total of 22 halls and 60 rooms. The dining hall of the palace is the largest dining hall in the world, in which 101 people can sit and eat together. The workmanship inside the palace is so magnificent that you will feel it only after coming here. The walls of the palace are decorated with brocades, while the marbles used in it are Italian.
9. There is a very large table in the palace, about which it is said that so far this kind of only two tables have been made, one in this palace and the other in Buckingham Palace. It was opened for the common citizens in the year 2010 after changes in several parts of the palace.
10. The palace was built in the shape of a scorpion with two wings spread to the north.
11. In the central part of the palace, the main building, kitchen, Gol Bangla, Zenana Mahal and Haram Quarter are spread to the south.
12. At that time the palace was constructed at a cost of about 40 lakh rupees($56000).
13. Telephone and electrical systems were started in this palace in 1883 by Osler.
14. As per the figures, the switchboards available in this palace are one of the largest switchboards available in India.
15. The palace was the personal property of the Nizam family and was not generally open to the public until the year 2000. The palace was later leased by the Taj group.
16. In 2000, the Taj Hotel Group began to transform it into a luxury hotel and was relaunched in November 2010 with new changes, managed by Mukherram Jahan’s first wife, Princess Esra.
17. The dining hall of this palace has a seating capacity of 101 guests, which is considered to be the largest dining hall in the world. The chairs are made of rosewood carved with green leather upholstery.
18. The palace has 220 rooms and 22 halls. The hotel also has a library, which houses a collection of several manuscripts.
19. At the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad in 2017, the daughter of US President Donald Trump and his advisor Ivanka Trump stayed at the Taj Falaknuma Palace.
20. Arpita, sister of Bollywood actor Salman Khan, was married to Delhi businessman Ayush Sharma at Taj Falaknuma Palace, for which Salman booked the palace for around Rs 3 crore.
21. The Taj Falaknuma Palace of Hyderabad, spread over 32 acres, is just 5 km from Charminar.

Falaknuma Palace History

The palace was built by an Italian craftsman named William Ward Marrett.The foundation stone for its construction was laid by Sir Vicar on 3 March 1884. The construction took a total of 9 years to complete. It was constructed entirely by Italian stone and covers an area of 32 acres.

Sir Vicar used the palace as his residence for some time. Later it was handed over to the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1897–98.The reason behind which is said that it cost too much to build it, Sir Vicar realized it later. So his wife Lady Umra planned to gift this palace to the Nizam so that all the money spent in building the palace recover.
Later the Nizam started using this palace as a royal guest house because from here you can see the view of the whole city.
The telephone and electrical system services were started in this palace in 1873 by Osler. As per the figures, the switchboards available in this palace are one of the largest switchboards available in India.
Until 2000, this palace was the personal property of the Nizam’s family and was not open for the general public.
The palace also has a billiards room which was designed by Boro and Watts. The table in it is amazing because two such tables were constructed, one of which is in Buckingham Palace and the other is located in this palace.

When to go – You can plan to visit here any time of the year. But one important thing to note is that to visit here, you have to get permission from Telangana Tourism. You can only visit here on Saturday and Sunday.
Timings are from 4 pm to 5.30 pm.

If you know any new things about Falaknuma palace, then definitely tell through the comments so that other people can read,thanks.