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The Sharad Baug Palace located to the east of Hamirsar Lake
was the orchard retreat of Maharao Madan Sinh, who signed the treaty of
accession and commissioned the Kandla port. It is an Italian style
mansion.
Set in spacious and beautifully tended gardens, the palace itself, built
in 1867, is of very modest proportions, with just a drawing room
downstairs and bedroom upstairs.
THE INTERIORS
Some of the rooms are now a museum with old furniture, colonial
trappings, portraits, stuffed tigers, elephants tusks, silver caskets, old
utensils and trophies won by Madan Sinh in tennis and other sports.
The dining room is in a separate building and on display here are a
number of the Maharao's personal possessions. Also on display is his
coffin, in which his body was brought back from the U.K. for cremation!
The Maharao of Kachchh Shri Madansinhji
Jadeja - the last Maharao died in the United Kingdom in 1991.
THE LUSH GARDENS
The great gardens of Sharad Baug Palace have nurseries for various
plants, and grass courts to which leading tennis players were regularly
invited. One can saunter down leafy paths overhung with hibiscus and
waving palms: migrant birds call from their hideaways, relaxing after
their long flight across the deserted Rann of Kachchh.
Sharad Baug Palace, open to visitors who can buy plants from its nursery,
is the most relaxing and verdant of the royal palaces in
Bhuj; as else where the city palace complex
is completely surrounded by other buildings.
TIMINGS
Sharad Baug Palace is open from 9 am-12 pm and 3 pm-6 pm daily, except on
Fridays.
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