© Hans A. Rosbach, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kuthiramalika Palace
A Travancore palace named for the 122 carved horses under its southern roof, built by a composer king and left empty for a century after he died.
The mansion of horses
Kuthiramalika means mansion of horses, and the name is literal: 122 horses are carved into the wooden brackets that carry the southern roof. Its official name is Puthen Malika, the new mansion. It was built by Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma, the Travancore maharaja remembered as much as a composer as a ruler, on the south-eastern side of the Padmanabhaswamy temple — and after he died in 1846 it stood unoccupied for more than a century.
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What there is to see
A small palace museum where the carpentry outranks the contents.
🐎 The horse brackets
- One hundred and twenty-two of them, carved into the wooden wall brackets supporting the southern roof
- They are the reason for the name and the first thing to look for from the courtyard
🪵 The building
- Travancore palace carpentry — rosewood, teak and carved ceilings, with the deep verandas the climate asks for
- It forms part of the larger complex of royal buildings around the temple
👑 The Travancore collections
- Royal furniture, weapons, paintings, palanquins and musical instruments
- The instruments carry more weight here than they would elsewhere, given who built the place
🎶 The courtyard
- Swathi Sangeethotsavam, the music festival held in the maharaja’s memory, runs here from 6 to 12 January each year
- Carnatic and Hindustani names of the first rank have played it; Bismillah Khan among them
Getting there
It is immediately beside the temple, which is why the two are always seen together.
🚶 From the temple
- On the south-eastern side of Padmanabhaswamy, within the same fort quarter and a short walk
🚗 From Kovalam
- Around twenty minutes, the same run as the temple
🎟️ Entering
- A ticketed palace museum with its own entrance, separate from the temple
When to go
With the temple, in the same morning.
🕰️ Time of day
- Morning, paired with the gopuram and the tank a few steps away
🎼 In January
- The 6th to the 12th brings Swathi Sangeethotsavam into the courtyard, which is a different and better visit
⏱️ How long
- Three quarters of an hour is enough unless the carpentry holds you, which it might
Before you go
The palace that lets you into the Travancore story when the temple will not.
🚪 Open to everyone
- There are no faith or dress restrictions here, unlike the temple it stands beside
👞 Shoes
- Removed at the entrance, as in most Kerala wooden palaces
📷 Photography
- Restricted inside. The horse brackets and the exterior are the photograph anyway
🧭 Pair it
- Temple, palace, then the Napier Museum at the other end of the city makes a complete half day
Nearby
The fort quarter, and the museum park north of it.
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