17th century palace to be promoted as tourist destination

The palace, built by Nayak king Tirumalai Nayakar (1625-1638), having 248 giant pillars, has been renovated at a cost of Rs three crore.

The Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and state tourism department will together promote it among both domestic and foreign tourists.

Historians are also being consulted to provide interesting features on the legacy of the king, who was responsible for many architectural wonders all over Tamil Nadu,officials said.

As a first step, a one hour fully computerised sound and light show in Tamil and English on the biography of Tirumalai Nayakar will be hosted there from next month on all days. The programme was last held in January 2007 and had since been suspended as the equipment to run it did not function.

Officials said work is on at a hectic pace to synchronise light effects with sound, aided by special software, while the dialogue was being reviewed for more accuracy.A single digital disc would contain all sound and light effects, they said.

The acoustic system would be tested by specialists and engineers from Delhi would come here to fine tune the show.

Officials said some work like whitewashing the giant pillars and clearing of accumulated garbage remained.

An ITDC official expressed confidence that the state-of-the-art fully computerised show would prove to be a major attraction for tourists.