Chowmahalla Palace is the palace belongs to the Nizams of Hyderabad. It was the residence of Asaf Jahi dynasty and in Urdu Chow means four, Mahalat means palaces hence the name Chowmahalla Palace meaning four palaces. The Chowmahalla palace is famous for its unique style and elegance and was awarded with prestigious UNESCO Asia Pacific Merit award for cultural heritage conservation in 2010.
This palace covers 14 acres of area from its originally 45 acres of those times. The construction of it was started in 1750 and it was completed during the rule of Asaf Jah V the fifth ruler of Nizam Kingdom in 1857 and 1869.
The palace consists of two courtyards namely the northern and the southern. They also possess a palace, a Darbar hall, gardens, and fountains. The Chowmahalla Palace occupies a total space of 45 acres but only 14 acres of which is remained today.
The Southern courtyard has four palaces namely Afzal Mahal, Tahniyat Mahal, Aftab Mahal and Mahtab Mahal, all built with neo classical design. To the northern courtyard we have a long corridor of rooms and a house for administrative department. Opposite to that Shishe Alat (meaning mirror image) building is located, which once used to be the guest rooms for officials accompanying visitors.
The Khilwat Mubarak is the heart of Chowmahalla Palace and people here would be interested to see it. This is where the kings Asaf Jahi dynasty used to sit and held his durbar. The durbar also has the 19 Chandeliers of Belgian crystals. The minor things which one can see is clock tower above the main gate of Chowmahalla Palace which is 250 years old, council hall which has priceless books and Roshan Bangla which was named after the mother of sixth Nizam king Roshan Begum who lived there.
