Virtual guide to palace museum

Wadiyar launches the facility; second after Bangalore Palace

Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar on Wednesday launched a ‘multilingual audio tour guide’ that enables visitors to the museum to get a peek into the exhibits belonging to the royalty in that place. The service produced and managed by Narrowcasters India, is offered at Rs 150 for Indians and Rs 250 for foreign tourists.

Explaining its features at a media briefing, Wadiyar said the guide is available in seven languages including English, Kannada, Hindi, French, German, Italian and Spanish, and extends to about an hour. A separate counter will be opened at the entrance of the museum, from where the ‘audio tour guide’ kits can be hired.

The kit similar to cellphone is connected to a headset with built-in microphones and tourists can hear the recorded script. The exhibits (the subjects user can listen to) have been divided into 20 parts that includes ‘gandabherunda’ (royal insignia) vehicles, Krishna paintings, chandeliers, yoga, architecture to name a few with the background score of good old music. You can also listen to the voice of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar in the beginning. The museum here is second to introduce this facility after Bangalore Palace.
Wadiyar said about 40 such kits will be introduced, and will be increased depending upon the response.

He said there are plans to open an exclusive gallery of silver exhibits and also chandeliers for the benefit of tourists. It may also be included in the ‘audio tour guide’.

The residential museum of the palace is owned by the royal scion. It was opened a few years ago and has been attracting hordes of people. The entry fee is fixed at Rs 20.