From the archive record
The Jai Vilas Mahal or The Jai Vilas Palace is one of India's most grandiose nineteenth-century palaces was built in 1875 by H. H. Maharaja Jayaji Rao Scindia (Shinde), the Maharaja of Gwalior and to this day remains the residence of the former royal Maratha family -- The Scindias (Shindes). Apart from being the residential palace of the royal family of Scindia, a part of the palace has been converted to a museum for the public. One can catch a glimpse of the royal living in the museum. In 1875, Maharaja Jayaji Rao Scindia dispatched his friend Colonel Michael Filose on a grand tour of Europe to seek inspiration. Filose returned with a vast shipment of furniture, fabric, paintings, tapestries and cut glass, together with the blueprints for a building that borrowed heavily from Buckingham P