Nazarbaug Palace

Located in the actual heart of the city, the now demolished, Nazarbaug palace stood just across Mandvi, and was built by Maharaja Malharrao Gaekwad in 1871. Considered to be the oldest palace in Baroda, in it’s later years it was used as a sort of a treasury and was still the first choice of the royals for conducting large scale functions. The palace ground also had Shish Mahal, a palace of glass.

The Building :

Set amidst the gardens, the palace was so such a spotless beauty that the local people used to say “Nazar na lage”(means: may god protect it from the evil) to protect it from the eyes of the evil. The “Nazar” part of the saying stuck and it was named “Nazarbaug” , baug added for the gardens surrounding it.

Built in the Italian-Renaissance style, the palace was a towering structure with four storeys and a basement along with a gazebo in the gardens and a bridge connecting it to the Sarkarwada.  Built on a high platform formed by the basement below the palace looked even more stately with the small flights of steps leading one, to the entrance. Towering above all the buildings of the city, the sizes of the successive storeys of the structure, decreased in size, to form verandas and balconies on every floor.

Each floor was distinguished using elaborately decorated architraves featuring stucco work. All the walls of the structure were divided into neat, symmetrical sections using elements such as pilasters and string courses. These sections were then inscribed with arched window openings according to the requirements. Classical elements such as the massive – fluted corinthian columns, arcaded verandas, pedimented windows, balustraded parapets and rows of blind arches embellished every surface of the structure. Other than these, the parapets of the uppermost storey were topped with several finials and elaborately shaped pediments.These pediments were painted in bright colors and gilded in gold thus literally the crowning the monumental edifice.

The Collection :

The treasury housed in the palace actually consisted of the most priced possessions of the Gaekwads. In year 1927, the collection of jewelry was believed to be worth $10,000,000. It included a diamond necklace which carried both Star of the South ( diamond weighing around 125 carats) and English Dresden( a drop shaped diamond of about 78.5 carats). An important part of collection was the famed “pearl carpet” a fine silk and deer hide based carpet, set with precious stones, 2500 diamonds and about 15 lakh pearls pearls, originally commissioned by Maharaja Khanderao Gaekwad to be sent as an offering to the Prophet’s tomb in Medina.

It also housed the solid gold and silver guns, each weighing over 100 kilograms. Other displays at the palace were works of old masters like Raphael, Titian, and Murillo. The collection also included Indian paintings, Graeco-Roman exhibits, Chinese and Japanese art. So precious were the items of the collection that, many of the valuables were stolen from inside the palace !

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If you “google” Nazarbaug (Nazar Baug) Palace now, the first picture that you will come across will probably be a computer rendered image of mall with the same name. The white palace that once stood on the grounds has long been demolished, and its place has been taken by a mall that claims “to revive the glory of Nazarbaug with its vintage elevation with the most modern facilities and a premium ambiance”.

Despite of the name kept to protect it from evil charms, the palace lived its last days striped of its former glory and opulence. In the final years it slowly crumbled to ruins until it was finally demolished, with no objection from the same people who once used to say “Nazar na lage” to protect it from bad jujus……