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Highlights
Lallgarh Palace was built in 1902 AD, by one of the most outstanding personalities of Princely India, Maharaja Ganga Singhji. If Bikaner has a single building that characterises its martial traditions, it is the 'Lallgarh Palace'. It was designed by an Englishman, Sir Samual Swinton Jacob; built entirely of soft red sandstone, truly a masterpiece of rich architecture with stone carvings and lattice work. The carvings consist of rich floral patterns in red stone, strong pillars and motif of the lotus in full bloom. Maharaja Dr. Karni Singh grandson of Maharaja Ganga Singh opened a part of Lallgarh Palace as hotel in 1972 under a Public Charitable Trust named as the 'Maharaja Ganga Singh Ji Trust'. The Trust ran hotel till 1992. In 1993, the Trust handed over the hotel to the ITC WelcomGroup, under an operating agreement. It was the most completely integrated example of Indo-Saracenic architecture. In the parched sands of the Thar, with its unbroken monochromatic landscape, Lallgarh Palace stands in all its pristine glory, a four-winged edifice as dreamt by Maharaja Ganga Singh.
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