Cooch Behar Palace
Cooch Behar Palace, also called the Victor Jubilee Palace, is a landmark in
Cooch Behar city, West Bengal. It was designed on the model of Buckingham
Palace in London in 1887, during the reign of Maharaja Nripendra Narayan.
The Cooch Behar Palace, noted for its elegance and grandeur, is a property
of The Mantri's. It is a brick-built double-storey structure in the
classical Western style covering an area of 51,309 square feet (4,766.8 m2).
The whole structure is 395 feet (120 m) long and 296 feet (90 m) wide and is
on rests 4 feet 9 inches (1.45 m) above the ground. The Palace is fronted on
the ground and first floors by a series of arcaded verandahs with their
piers arranged alternately in single and double rows.
At the southern and northern ends, the Palace projects slightly and in the
centre is a projected porch providing an entrance to the Durbar Hall. The
Hall has an elegantly shaped metal dome which is topped by a cylindrical
louvre type ventilator.
This is 124 feet (38 m) high from the ground and is in the style of the
Renaissance architecture. The intros of the dome is carved in stepped
patterns and Corinthian columns support the base of the cupola. This adds
variegated colours and designs to the entire surface.
There are various halls in the palace and rooms that include the Dressing
Room, Bed Room, Drawing Room, Dining Hall, Billiard hall, Library,
Toshakhana, Ladies Gallery and Vestibules. The articles and precious objects
that these rooms and halls used to contain are now lost.
Getting There
Rickshaws are the most widely available public transport in Cooch Behar
town. Most of Cooch Behar's residents stay within a few kilometres of the
town centre and have their own vehicles, mostly motorcycles and bicycles.
The New Cooch Behar railway station is around 5 km from town and is well
connected to almost all major Indian cities including Kolkata, Delhi,
Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Guwahati. The rail route is one of the important
connecting North-East India with remaining parts of the country. All express
and Superfast trains going towards North East have a stoppage here. Another
station named Cooch Behar situated inside the town exists but only few pairs
of local trains run on this route.
Cooch Behar is headquarters of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation,
which runs regular bus service to places in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar.
Private buses are also available. Most buses depart from the Central Bus
Terminus near Cooch Behar Rajbari. Hired vehicles are available from the
taxi stand near Transport Chowpathi.
The Cooch Behar Airport has modern passenger facilities but no airlines
operate here. Steps are being taken to resume flights.
The nearest operating airport is Bagdogra Airport near Siliguri, about 150
km from Cooch Behar. It is about three hours 45 minutes drive to
Bagdogra Airport from Cooch Behar. To make arrangements for a taxi from Airport to
Cooch Behar, contact one the taxi operators and travel agents that have
counter in the Airport.
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