Rani Mahal

The Rani Mahal is a royal palace in the city of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The palace was built by Raghu Nath-II of the Newalkar family (1769-96). This palace later formed one of the residences for Rani Lakshmibai. Architecturally, it is a flat-roofed, two-storeyed building having a quadrangular courtyard with a small well and one fountain on opposing sides. The palace consists of six halls and parallel corridors with multi-foiled arches and a number of small rooms. The Darbar Hall, approached by a flight of steps, is beautifully decorated with paintings in bright colours exhibiting various floral, faunal and geometrical motifs. The arches are embellished with peacock and rosette patterns. The majority of it was damaged by British bombardment during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The ground floor of the palace houses stone sculptures collected from Madanpur, Barua Sagar, Dudhai and Chandpur dating from the Gupta to Medieval periods (9th to 12th centuries).