Amar Mahal Palace Museum is one of the most well accredited Museums of India which is located in Jammu, a part of Jammu & Kashmir state of India. This was actually a palace which now has been converted to a government museum. The Palace was built by Raja Amar Singh who was the king of Dogra and descendent of Suryavanshi Rajput tribe in the 19th century. The entire architectural design of the Palace was designed by a famous architect of France who took his inspiration from lines of popular French Chateau. This Palace was donated as a use for the Museum by Dr. Karan Singh (the Hari-Tara charitable trust). The Museum is widely famous for its golden throne, visual renderings of the Royal Family, Kangra Miniature Paintings and Pahari Painting along with unique collection of antique books.

Museum of Royal Family

Amar Mahal Palace Museum was previously Amar Mahal Palace which served as the residence for Royal Family for several years. The Palace was built by a Dogra King, Raja Amar in 1890. The King specially hired renowned architects from France to plan & design this Palace, which currently resembles the design of a French Chateau. The entire Palace is made up of sand stone which is red in color. Later, Hari-Tara Charitable Trust under Dr. Karan Singh donated this Palace to be used as a National Museum. The Museum has rich and admirable collection of books, art pieces, paintings, sculptures and inscriptions.

Amar Mahal Palace Museum, also known as Dogra Hall of Museum is incredibly attractive and is artistically adorned with some precious and delicate portraits of the Royal Family of Jammu & Kashmir. The Museum also incorporates the infamous Pahari Paintings and the valuable Golden Throne that belongs to Maharaja Hari Singh. This Throne is the central attraction of the Museum.

Attractions

Amar Mahal Palace

This Museum is a part of Amar Mahal Palace which was once a residence of the Royal Family. It is located at the bank of famous Tawi River. The entire palace is built with sand stone that is totally red in color. This palace was the last official residence of the Royal Family of Dogra who belonged to Suryavanshi Rajput Tribe and is artistically built resembling the French Chateaus.

The Golden Throne

This is the chief attraction of Amar Mahal Palace. This is the Throne, a sofa entirely made of gold and is almost 120 kg in weight. This Throne belongs to the Maharaja Hari Singh and it is beautifully embedded and decorated with golden lions at all its side corners. The Throne is placed in a hexagonal room and for security reasons the main door is always locked and it can only be seen through glass panels.

On Display

Amar Mahal Palace Museum has numerous things as attractions on display for tourists along with The Golden Throne. The Museum is famous for Pahari Paintings, some splendid portraits of The Royal Family, some incredible art pieces from world renowned painters including M.F. Hussain, Bikash Battacharjee, G. R. Santosh, Ram Kumar and many more. Miniature Paintings are also another attraction for display in this Museum. Along with these, the infamous Dasavatara Paintings (modern version) are also portrayed in the Museum. These paintings are placed in a special anti-chamber and are extraordinary yet remarkable contemporary set of art paintings.

The Library

Another attraction of Amar Mahal Palace is its library which has a wide collection of books that have been collected over last 50 years. The library has a collection of about 25,000 books. There are some books that belong to exceptional rare volumes of collection of Raja Amar Singh too. The library also possesses some of the antique books that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

How to Reach

By Road

Bus, cabs and taxi services are easily available. Private as well as government authorized buses are available. These buses are efficiently connected to other cities including Amritsar, Shimla, Ambala, Manali and Delhi. From Delhi, tourist luxury buses nearly charge about INR 2000.

By Air

Jammu airport is the only airport to visit Jammu for Amar Mahal Palace. From there, cab facility is easily available to reach any nearby destination in Jammu.

By Rail

The nearest railway station to Amar Mahal Palace is Jammu Tawi in Jammu. This railway station is connected to all the India states and cities effectively.

Visitor Information

Amar Mahal Palace is open for all visitors from 10.00 am till 12.00 noon and between 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm during summers while between 3.00 pm and 5.00 pm during winters. The Amar Mahal Museum remains closed on Mondays as well as on State holidays.