Hyderabad: The restoration work of Durbar hall which used to be the British Residency during the Nizam’s era is in its final phase.
The conservation Architects and artists are busy giving final touches to the restoration work. The papier-mache ceiling panels of the structure in green, pink, white and yellow colours with floral pattern and gilded beading had suffered damage due to lack of care in the past.
The ceiling panels were made in the United Kingdom in the late nineteenth century, shipped and installed here.
There are 650 panels in 18 different shapes and sizes. The panels have been fixed to the ceiling. The material used for making the panels appears to be compressed paper rather than papier-mache.
Darbar Hall, located in Women’s College at Koti which was designed by Madras Sappers engineer Lieutenant Samuel Russel and built in 1803, was a symbol of the British might in India. This Residency Building was the place where many of the court intrigues were planned and executed by the British residents against the erstwhile Hyderabad ruler.