subject: Hill Palace Museum - From Royal Abode To Storehouse Of Heritage [print this page] The Cochin Royal Family or the Kochi Rajas were a powerful and influential family. During their reign in Cochin, they set up a beautiful palace and palace gardens in 1865, across an area of around 54 acres. These palace premises consisted of 49 buildings and were entirely built through personal royal family funds.
Later on, a subsequent Kochi Royal family handed the palace over to the Kerala Government and the Archaeology Department took it over in 1980. It has since been converted into a museum, open to the public since 1986 and is the chief archaeological museum in Kerala.
The premises have been divided into the heritage museum, archaeological museum, pre historic park, childrens park and deer park.
The museum houses a variety of exhibits under 14 categories such as sculptures, paintings, inscriptions, murals, carvings and so on. Though primarily consisting of items from the Cochin Royal Family, the museum also houses items collected from the Travancore Royal House, the Department of Archaeology and Paliam Devaswom house.
The ceramic and pottery section houses artefacts from China and Japan. There are also priceless memorabilia from the various civilization periods, such as the Mohanjodaro and Harappa periods.
The Paliam Gallery consists primarily of donations from the Paliyathachan family (The 2nd in command to the Kochi Rajas) It also houses the throne.
Wood carvings, ivory carvings are some of the other items to be found at the Hill Palace Museum.
Various utensils, religious practice objects and other historic items are located in the heritage museum, which was opened in 1995.
Visitors to Ernakulam, Kochin should not miss the opportunity to visit this spectacular museum and soak in the rich heritage that lies within its walls. If such visitor seeks a Ernakulam hotel, then The Gateway Hotel Marine Drive Ernakulam, with its modern amenities and central location affords an ideal base for sightseeing.
