Rani Mahal, Jhansi

Rani Mahal is the palace in Jhansi town where Rani Laxmibai made her home after the East India Company annexed the state and she had to leave the fort. It was here, the story goes, that Indian fighters persuaded her to lead the 1857 revolt, and her vow that she would not give up her Jhansi is closely linked with the building. Its durbar hall also saw the legal challenge to the annexation, in which the lawyer John Lang was involved.

The palace has two floors and a flat roof, arranged around a square courtyard that has a well and a fountain at either end. Six halls and a set of corridors with multi-foiled arches open into smaller rooms. Steps lead up to the durbar hall, whose walls are painted with flowers, animals and geometric patterns, while peacocks and rosettes decorate the arches. Rajput and Mughal elements mix throughout, seen in the lattice screens, frescoes, carvings and balconies.