[1][2][3] The extravagantly decorated palace of the Maharaja of Mayurbhanj is a heritage building depicting the rarest engineering skill and architectural excellence of a bygone era.
The construction of the first phase of the palace began on orders of Maharani Sumitra Devi Bhanj Deo in 1804, who ruled the state from 1796 to 1810.
It is a brick-built double-storey structure in the classical Western style having of Doric-Corinthian column and a mixture of Greek and Victorian architecture.
The pool was covered with wooden floors and converted into a library-cum-reading room for Maharaja Purna Chandra College that shifted to the palace in 1960.
[2] The Mayurbhanj Palace also once housed the temple of their kuladevi, Goddess Kichakeshwari, which was not only ishtadevata of Bhanj dynasty but also the State deity.