On Sunday I visited the former Kathmandu Royal Palace, now a Museum. The official name is the Narayanhiti Palace Museum. Hiti means springs...and there are a number on the grounds. I was surprised to find that the Palace was built in 1969 as the decor was straight out of the 30's...and the whole place looked as if no one had dared touch a thing since it was built. Nepal was closed to the outside world until the 1950's but some of the Rana's visited Europe in the 1800 's and 1900's and were impressed with the architecture which they incorporated in the scores of Rana Palaces which now dot the Valley. Someone should have sent a deligation to Saudi Arabia in the 60's. Now...they know how to put a palace together.You enter up the steep steps flanked by eight statues of various animals and ascend into a huge foyer with double curved staircases. These are flanked by two huge stuffed tigers poised to attack. The walls are lined with floor to ceiling portraits of former kings. There are small sitting rooms where visiting dignitaries would wait to be received by the King. And there was a lovely "Royal Suite" for visiting heads of state with two large bedrooms, a private dining and living room. It looked like the most comfortable part of the whole palace. The Throne Room was in a large room upstairs and the huge silver and gold throne was flanked by around 50 or so straight chairs in stiff rows. Downstairs off the entrance foyer was a small office for the King and next door the King and Queen's bedroom. I don't think it measured as much as 15' by 20'. It was really small. Down in what I would call the basement were floor to ceiling portraits of former Queens in what was called the "medals" room where medals were given out and displayed.
The grounds and gardens were getting a bit dilapidated, no surprise since they are huge. The building where the massacre occurred has been torn down and there is a sign on the spot where the Crown Prince was found afterward. It wasn't a very large building.
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