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Even
though it is austere in its appearance, the Mattancherry Palace of
Cochin has a quaint charm of its own. The credit for building this
landmark monument partly goes to the Dutch, who captured Cochin city of
Kerala during the pre-British period.
This
'partly' is there because the Dutch, incidentally, were not the original
builders of the famous Mattancherry Palace. Infact, this edifice was
built much before the Dutch even thought of adding Cochin to their
colonial possessions. It was the Portuguese who, after grabbing Cochin
from the Dutch, had initially built the Mattanchery Palace in 1557. |
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They,
then, gifted it to the Raja Veera Kerala Varma of Cochin, as
compensation for a temple they had destroyed, and also as a bribe to
gain favors from the ruling dynasty. It was later, in 1663, when the
Dutch wrestled Cochin from the hands of the Portuguese that the palace
shifted hands. The Dutch revamped the Mattancherry Palace, which is why
it is also famous by the name of Dutch Palace.
The Dutch palace remains more or less the same in structure and
appearance even today. Its facade is fairly unornamented and is made up
of stark white walls, sloping roofs and trees around it. It is a
two-storied, quadrangular building, with a small temple dedicated to the
deity Palayannur Bhagwati in the central courtyard. On either side of it
are smaller shrines dedicated to Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva. The
central hall on the upper storey was once used as venue for coronating
Cochin's Raja and has an intrinsically carved wooden ceiling.
Not surprisingly, the center of attraction of the Mattanchery Palace is
not its ceilings, but the splendid murals on the walls of the rooms.
Depicting scenes from Hindu mythologies like the Ramayana, the
Mahabharata and the Puranas, these murals are counted as amongst the
best in India. The Dutch Palace of Kerala has many more elements of
surprise for visitors. There's an entire gallery of royal memorabilia
that consist of attires, turbans and weapons, from the days of the rajas
of Kochi.
Timings
10.00 am
to 5.00 pm (Closed on Fridays)
How to
reach
Once you land in Cochin, you can take hired cars, taxis, auto-rickshaws,
ferry and even hired bicycles to reach the Mattancherry or the Dutch
Palace.
The nearest airport is
Cochin International Airport.
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