Vinay Vilas Palace, Alwar, Rajasthan

The Vinay Vilas palace is a treat for architecture freaks and casual tourists alike. Built mostly in 1793, by the ruler Raja Bakhtawar Singh, greets the incoming visitors with its impressive Durbar Hall. The hall is huge and intricately decorated. All the remaining rooms and chambers are decorated very tastefully, with different themes draping the design of each section.

The City Palace was built in 1793 A.D. by Raja Bakhtawar Singh. It represents a intermingling of Rajput and Mughal styles. It has graceful marble pavilions set on lotus flower bases in the central courtyard. Once this palace was part of the Maharajas ornate lifestyle and housed, among other things, a drinking cup cut out of a single emerald in its treasury and a mammoth, double storied four-elephant carriage in its stables. Today however the palaces has been converted into the district's collect orate, and its hall and chambers have a been turned into government offices.