Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace

Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace stands in the old centre of Bengaluru, near the Kalasipalya bus stand and the remains of the Bangalore Fort, close to the Kote Venkataramana Temple. It was the summer residence of Tipu Sultan, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore.

Tipu's father, Hyder Ali, began the palace in 1781 within the walls of the Bangalore Fort, and it was completed under Tipu Sultan in 1791. After Tipu was killed in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799, the British used the building as offices for their administration until the secretariat moved to the Attara Kacheri in 1868.

The palace is a two-storey building made almost entirely of teak wood, in an Indo-Islamic style. Carved wooden pillars, arches and balconies line the upper floor, and the walls and ceilings were once covered with painted floral designs, of which traces remain. Tipu is believed to have held his court in the east and west balconies of the upper floor, and he named the palace Rashk-e-Jannat, meaning the envy of heaven.

A small museum on the ground floor tells the story of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan and of their wars with the British, with copies of paintings, documents and objects from the period. A garden surrounds the building.

The palace is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India and is open daily during the day. An entry ticket is charged, with different rates for Indian and foreign visitors.

Four small rooms at the corners of the upper floor were the zenana, the women's quarters. The palace also displays a painting of the throne Tipu designed for himself, covered in gold sheet and set with emeralds. He vowed not to sit on it until he had defeated the British. After his death the British broke it up and auctioned the pieces, because no single buyer could afford it whole.

The ground-floor museum includes a replica of Tipu's Tiger, whose original is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Clothes and a crown linked to Tipu are shown on silver and gold pedestals, and silver vessels given to Hyder Ali by one of his generals are also on display.

The lawn in front of the palace is kept by the Horticulture Department of the Government of Karnataka.