Mysore/Mysuru: With over three weeks left for the inauguration of Dasara-2020, the maintenance of the royal chandeliers inside the Mysore Palace began yesterday.

The Palace Board is undertaking the upkeep of the priceless chandeliers that are adorning the ceilings of Public Durbar Hall, Private Durbar Hall and Kalyana Mantap, before the Navarathri festival begins. It includes cleaning the chandeliers with soap water and replacing the fused out bulbs. 

Scaffolding is erected to reach out to the roof for cleaning the chandeliers including big ones, domes and pearl chandeliers, white, red and green ones too. These precious chandeliers were imported from Czechoslovakia around 1926, said T.S. Subramanya, Deputy Director, Mysore Palace Board.

The Board is in-charge of maintaining the Palace and it gets to work to prepare for Dasara well in advance. Over 150 chandeliers of different sizes and shapes are cleaned, and burnt bulbs inside them are replaced.  The chandeliers adorn the Amba Vilas, also called Khas Durbar Hall, Kalyana Mantap where there are dome-shaped chandeliers, besides the ornate ones at the Public Durbar Hall dotting the ceilings with intricate  paintings and matching Italian marble flooring.

He said there are nine chandeliers inside the Public Durbar Hall, eight in Private Durbar Hall; one big and four small chandeliers in the Kalyana Mantap. While the cleaning is completed in Private Durbar Hall and Kalyana Mantap, it is going on in Public Durbar Hall. “Regular upkeep is to give a fresh sheen to the exotic chandeliers inside the Palace,” Subramanya added.