iolanda andrade: The sweetness of Southern India circuit (Day 5 morning cont.) - The Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal Palace (the Royal Auditorium), Madurai

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The Royal Auditorium aka Dance hall, located next to the King's courtyard housing a display of several century old archaeological objects, amongst which Pandyan, Jain and Budhist sculptures, didn't look so grandiose as the previous courtyard (as a whole), possibly because of not having any wide side pavilions, but was a lot more profusely decorated and thus had an almost immediate artistic impact on the visitors. I once more found myself focusing on details, some of which were very intricate.

Side galleries (details)

The artefacts placed in the galery around the yard were quite interesting bearing in mind the epoch in which they were made. Although I photographed a few of the sculptures that somehow had caught my atttention, what I was mostly impressed with were the cave and the Chola paintings.