Scindia Museum, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh India

The museum gives an interesting insight into the lifestyle of a powerful princely family. Portraits of the family, its family tree and its flags and insignia, dominate the foyer atop the flight of the steps from the entrance. There are also trophies of the Princes' hunting parties and a gallery of old sculptures. At the other end of the foyer there is a stairway that leads up past an indoor swimming pool to halls with a private breakfast room, dining rooms, offices, rooms with Chippendale furniture, carved blackwood furniture and the living wing of the tiny Chinkoo Raja. The Chinese room is a room with an intricate stained-glass window. A descending flight of stairs leads to a court with a crystal fountain and the royal coaches.

 Much of modern Gwalior is associated with the Scindias who were prolific builders. The Jai Vilas Palace at Lashkar is an opulent Italianate structure, set in carefully laid lawns. Part of the palace functions as residence of the royal family while the other has been converted into a museum that effectively documents a more leisurely and princely lifestyle.

There is another section which holds the formal western-style as well as a formal Indian-style dining room. The is also an enormous reception area with a coffered and painted ceiling, two huge crystal chandeliers weighing three and a half tons each. To make certain that the roof could take their weight, a one kilometer ramp was built so that eight elephants could amble up and stand on the roof above. The roof held: the chandeliers were hung! On the furniture, the mouldings, the decorations on the coffered ceilings, picture frames, everywhere where good-taste dictated that it could be used, gold glittered. Five hundred and sixty kilograms of gold leaf were used in this Palace.

Scindia Museum, situated in the Jai Vilas Palace, was established by a private trust in 1964. The Scindia Museum of Gwalior is one of the most popular tourist attractions that witness huge tourist traffic every year. The museum is known for its rich collection of manuscripts, miniature paintings, weapons, sculptures, coins, bronzes and other items.

The Scindia Museum is a multi-purpose museum, which is associated with the Scindias of Gwalior. The Jai Vilas Palace, an opulent Italianate structure, houses the museum which contains the important documents and many other miscellaneous things belonging to the Scindia family.