The city is built around a 65-acre (26 ha) hillock called Thekkinkadu Maidanam which seats the Vadakkunnathan temple.

Thrissur was once the capital of the Kingdom of Cochin, and was a point of contact for the Assyrians, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Romans, Portuguese, Dutch and English.

The city has historically been a centre of Hindu scholarship, and Christianity, Islam and Judaism are believed to have entered the Indian subcontinent through Thrissur and its surrounding areas.

The name owes itself to the most prominent feature of the city, which is the Vadakkumnathan Temple, which has Shiva as its presiding deity.

The Maharaja made the city into a major financial and commercial hub of South India, by inviting Syrian Christian families and Brahmins from adjoining areas.

In 1786, the son of Tipu Sultan of Mysore led another invasion of Thrissur but retreated after the Srirangapattanam war.

[32] In the meantime, Rama Varma X, the successor of Sakthan Thampuran signed a treaty with the East India Company, transforming the state of Cochin into a British Protectorate.

The civil disobedience movement attracted many people in Thrissur in subsequent years, and Mahatma Gandhi visited the city in 1927 and 1934 to promote it.

[33][34] R. K. Shanmukham Chetty, the controversial Diwan of Cochin Kingdom from 1935 to 1941, developed the city by constructing Thrissur Town Hall and Ramanilayam, buildings which remain important in Kerala politics.

[46] Historians say that King Sakthan Thampuran invited Syrian Christian families and Brahmins to settle in Thrissur city from their business centers in adjoining areas.

Out of the 850 ayurvedic drug-manufacturing companies in Kerala, about 150, including some of the largest in the state like Oushadhi, Vaidyaratnam Oushadhasala, KP Namboodiris, are located in and around the city.

Domestic tourists generally use the city as a hub to explore the highly promoted tourism industry of the state of Kerala.

The city with its temples, old churches and its culture, is ranked first in the number of domestic tourists visiting Kerala.

[67] For administrative purposes, the city is divided into 52 wards, from which the members of the corporation council are elected for five years.

It is performed by trained artists to entertain people on the occasion of Onam, an annual harvest festival, celebrated mainly in Kerala.

Buon Natale procession entered the Guinness World Records in 2014 for having the maximum number of people dressed up as Santa Claus.

Other important festivals celebrated in the city include Christmas, Onam, Diwali, Easter, Eid and Vishu.

After the Indian Independence, Thrissur became the literary capital of Kerala as turned to the playground of novelist, poets and orators.

[99] The Vadakkunnathan temple, believed to have been founded by the legendary saint Parasurama, is an example of the Kerala style of architecture and houses several sacred shrines and murals delineating graphically, various episodes from the Mahabharata.

Aykunnu Pandavagiri Devi Temple is situated at Venginisseri village, that around 9 km from city center.

Sree Guruvayurappan Temple is located in Guruvayur (28 km from Thrissur); it is also referred to as Bhuloka Vaikunta which means "Holy Abode of Vishnu on Earth".

International ballers and former Indian captains C. V. Pappachan, I. M. Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri, and the Under 17 World Cup player K. P. Rahul belongs to Thrissur.

David Memorial Trophy, an annual inter-club football tournament is held in Thrissur every year.

Menon Indoor Stadium and a SAI maintained Thrissur Aquatic Complex with international facilities.

[116][117][118] The Express started in 1944 from Thrissur with K Krishanan as the editor is known in Central Kerala for its nationalist and socialist views.

[115] Major Malayalam newspapers published in Thrissur include Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Madhyamam, Deepika, Kerala Kaumudi, Deshabhimani, Mangalam, Veekshanam, Metro Vaartha and Janayugom.

The first cinema hall in Kerala, with a manually operated film projector, was opened in Thrissur by Jose Kattookkaran in 1907.

NH 544 provides two main exit points at Mannuthy and Thalore which is bypass to the Thrissur city.

The city is largely dependent on private buses, taxis and auto rickshaws for public transport.

[135] State-owned Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) runs inter-state, inter-district and city services.