''Errum Manzil'' or Iram Manzil is an expansive palace standing in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. ...

, Telangana, India. It was built around the year 1870 by

Nawab Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Noba ...

Safdar Jung Musheer-ud-daula Fakhrul Mulk, a nobleman of

Hyderabad state Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and t ...

. It is located on top of a hillock off the Khairatabad - Panjagutta road. Nawab safdar jung musheer ud daulah fakhar-ul-mulk-aun mehdi's collection (2)

History

The mansion is located atop a hillock known as Erragadda or "red hill" in the native Telugu language. For this reason, nawab Fakhrul Mulk decided to name the new palace "Iram Manzil" (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

for 'Paradise Mansion'), because the Persian word 'Iram' meaning 'Paradise' sounds like "Erram," the Telugu word for "red." He also got the building painted a shade of red in order to emphasize the link, and so you had the red-coloured Erra Manzil on top of Erragadda hill. The nawab intended that the mansion be known by two similar-sounding names: 'Iram Manzil' for the Persian-friendly Muslim nobility of the state and 'Erram Manzil' for the local Telugu people. In time, the latter name has prevailed, and "Erra Manzil" is now the official name of the palace. Irrum Manzil was used for royal banquets and other grand events. Later, the palace was taken over by the Government to be used as a records store-house . After some years it was again transferred into the hands of Public Works Department. Presently this palace houses offices of the Engineers-in-chief and the Chief Engineers of the Roads and Buildings and Irrigation/ Command Area Development Departments. Recently the Government of Telangana said that the heritage structure, Irrum Manzil would be razed to the ground because of its dilapidated state. There is huge effort to save this heritage structure by the locals. This heritage comes under B2 category on the list of archaeological survey of India. Recently, a High Court order made it illegal to demolish the structure.

Architecture

Built in the Indo-European

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

style of architecture, during its heyday the palace had over 150 rooms furnished with Louis XVI furniture, nine-hole golf course, polo ground, stable for horses and a dairy farm. The palace was full of

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

and ornamental works. The palace used to overlook the

Hussain Sagar Hussain Sagar (alternatively referred to as Tank Bund; ) is a heart-shaped lake in Hyderabad, Telangana, built by Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah in 1563. It is spread across an area of and is fed by the River Musi. A large monolithic statue of the Ga ...

, but this view has now been blocked by other buildings.

References

External links

The Hindu featureA post on Google Earth Community
Government of Telangana press release Heritage structures in Hyderabad, India Hyderabad State Palaces in Hyderabad, India {{India-struct-stub