Mysuru: The Mysore Palace, with its priceless and exquisite items of heritage value, is all set to get an in-house laboratory that will work towards examination and conservation of the structure and its antiques. The laboratory will be fully equipped and will be of international standards and at the same time, it will be a special one among India’s Palaces.

The Palace, designed by Henry Irwin, who is also credited with designing the Viceregal Lodge in Shimla, was the Consulting Architect of the Government of Mysore. The Palace he designed houses paintings by Raja Raviverma and other artists of repute, sculptures, artefacts, stain glass and tiles.

To protect the antiques and the structure per se, the laboratory will be run by conservation experts. As a step towards establishing the laboratory, a meeting was recently held in Mysuru under the chairmanship of DC D. Randeep, who is also the Executive Officer of the Palace Board.

Scholars at the meeting included Dr. Sukhwinder Singh, Emeritus Scientist at CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi, Dr. Vandana Singh, National Museum Institute, New Delhi, Dr. Selvarai, Senior Conservator (retired), National Research Laboratory for Conservation (NRLC), Chennai.

At the meeting, conservationists gave their suggestions on establishing the lab and discussed the infrastructure, logistics and other aspects. Deputy Director of Palace Board T.S. Subramanya and others were present.