Monsoon Palace

The Monsoon Palace, also known as the Sajjan Garh Palace, is a hilltop palatial residence in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan in India, overlooking the Fateh Sagar Lake. It is named Sajjangarh after Maharana Sajjan Singh (1874–1884) of the Mewar dynasty, whom it was built for in 1884. The palace offers a panoramic view of the city's lakes, palaces and surrounding countryside. It was built chiefly to watch the monsoon clouds; hence, appropriately, it is popularly known as Monsoon Palace. It is said that the Maharana built it at the top of the hill to get a view of his ancestral home, Chittorgarh. Previously owned by the Mewar royal family, it is now under the control of the Forest Department of the Government of Rajasthan and has recently been opened to the public. The palace provides a beautiful view of the sunset.

Its builder, Maharana Sajjan Singh, originally planned to make it a five-storey astronomical centre. The plan was cancelled with Maharana Sajjan Singh's premature death. It was then turned into a monsoon palace and hunting lodge.

High in the Aravalli Hills, just outside Udaipur, the palace is illuminated in the evenings, giving a golden orange glow (see image in the infobox).

The palace appeared in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy as the residence of Kamal Khan (Portrayed by Louis Jourdan), an exiled Afghan prince.

Text adapted from “Monsoon Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Monsoon Palace ranks #1,556 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #64 of the 172 mapped in India. Founded 1884, it is older than 5% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 562 atlas entries founded in the 19th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,701 times in the last 60 days, more than 79% of the atlas. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. It is one of the 25 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Rajasthan. See how India compares in the castle statistics.

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