Tipu Sultan’s Palace and Serengapatem Fort.

As well as the fort at Serengapatem, there is also Tipu Sultan’s palace, or one of them. It is stunning. The walls are entirely made of teak, and with the high ceilings and stone/marble floors it is pleasantly cool. Blogger has rearranged and reordered my photos but hopefully the captions will help. The murals are enormous and are amazing. The contemporary paintings by European artists were all completed by people who were at the siege or were serving soldiers in India at the time so I am assuming the detail, especially on the uniforms, is reasonably accurate. (Ample justification for my Highlander battalions to be in bonnets and kilts). 

Part of one of the giant murals depicting Tipu in battle.

Medal awarded for taking part in the storming of Serengapatem.

Large clay model of the fortress and its environs as it once was, ie before we sacked it, 6mm scale? 

Another of the enormous murals made up of dozens of hand painted panels.

The reverse of the medal.

Tipu’s trousers.

Actually NOT Tipu.

The front garden and driveway. Must have been a bit tiresome putting the bins out?

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Detail of very large painting of the assault on the breach.

These giant boulder-like hills are just off the Bangalore to Mysore highway . They are seriously impressive.

So there you have it. The palace is stunning, but the ruins of Serangapatem have been subsumed by several police married quarters bungalows and a very busy little town, doing its bit for tourism. The ruins remain awesome if one can imagine them without the distractions of the villagers, tourists, cops, trinket sellers and other persistently irritating people! (But they have a living to make).

Mysore Palace next time.