Falaknuma is a palace in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It originally belonged to the Paigah family, and was later owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad.[5] It is on a hillock and covers a 13-hectare (32-acre) area in Falaknuma, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Charminar.
It was built by Nawab Sir Viqar-ul-Umra, Prime Minister of Hyderabad and the uncle & brother-in-law of the sixth Nizam. Falak-numa means “Like the Sky” or “Mirror of Sky” in Urdu.
One of the highlights of the palace is the state reception room, where the ceiling is decorated with frescoes. The ballroom contains a two-ton manually operated organ said to be the only one of its kind in the world
The entrance to the Palace.
The palace has 60 rooms and 22 halls. It has considerable collections of the Nizam’s artifacts including paintings, statues, furniture, manuscripts, books, an extensive jade collection, and Venetian chandeliers.
It has a library with a carved walnut roof, a replica of the one at Windsor Castle. The library houses more than five thousand books. It has an extensive collection of English, Urdu and Persian books as well as copies of the Quran, and rare first editions.
The dining hall can seat 101 guests. The chairs are made of carved rosewood with green leather upholstery.
Burroughs and Watts from England designed two identical billiards tables, one of which is in Buckingham Palace and the other in the palace’s billiards room.
The palace was the private property of the Nizam family, and not normally open to the public, until 2000.
