Hyderabad City: History & Tourism

Hyderabad is the capital city of the state of Telangana and AndhraPradesh of South India. The city was founded on the River Musi by Muham-mad Quli Qutab Shah in 1591. The city is located on the Deccan Plateauand it is the fifth largest city of India.

Golconda Fort

This cosmopolitan city is richlyendowed with a variety of cultures.The city presents an attractive amal-gam of old world charm togetherwith new world of hi-technology.Hyderabad city has a history ofnearly four hundred years. All itsbegan with the establishment of theQutub Shahi dynasty. Quli QutubShah seized the reins of power fromthe Bahamani Kingdom in 1512 and established the fortress city of Golconda.The history of Golconda goes back to the Kakatiya Dynasty in 11th centurywhen they built a mud fortress on a hill called Golconda.

Charminar

Inadequacy of water, and fre-quent epidemics of plague andcholera persuaded Mohammed, thefifth Quli Qutub Shahi ruler to ven-ture outward to establish the newcity with the Charminar at its cen-ter and with four great roads fan-ning out in the four cardinal direc-tions. The capital of the city wasBhagyanagar, which named after aroyal beloved Bhagyamati. As shebecame the wife of Quli Qutub Shah,the sultan bestowed the title of Hy-

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der Mahal on Bhagmati and thus was born Hyderabad.

Mecca Masjid

The Qutub Shahi rulers weregreat builders and patrons of learn-ing. Mohamed Quli Qutub Shahbuilt the mosque, whose construc-tion began in 1614 and Aurangazebcompleted it in 1687. The nameof Mecca Masjid was given to themosque since many bricks embed-ded above the gate are made fromthe soil brought from Mecca. TheQutub Shahi rulers not only patron-ized the Persian culture but also the regional culture of the Deccan, symbol-ized by the Telugu language and the newly developed Deccani idiom. Hyder-abad’s fame, strategic location and Golconda’s legendary wealth attractedAurangazeb who captured Golconda after a long siege in 1687. Thereafter,the importance of Hyderabad declined and the city fell into partial ruin.

Chowmahalla Palace

As the Mughal Empire de-cayed and began to disintegrate,Asaf Jah-I proclaimed himself theNizam and established independentrule of the Deccan. Chowma-halla Palace was the seat of theAsaf Jahi dynasty and was the of-ficial residence of the Nizams ofHyderabad while they ruled theirstate.

Falakunama Palace

The famous Falaknuma palacewas built by the Paigah, NawabVikar-ul-Umra, who was the brother-in-law of Nizam VI. It took nineyears from its foundation in 1884 tocompletion in 1893 and the palacewas purchased by the Nizam VI in1897. This palace was designed byan Italian architect in western style and is completely built with Italian Mar-ble. The palace houses a large collection of rare treasures, paintings, statues,furniture, manuscripts and books collected by the Nizam. The jade collection

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displayed is considered to be unique in the world. However, the marvel of thepalace faded away in the late 1950’s due to poor maintenance. It remainedin the wilderness till the Taj Hotels Group restored it to its glory throughextensive renovation and made it a heritage hotel, with the help of PrincessEsra Jah, wife of Mukarram Jah who is a survivor of Osman Ali Khan, therichest Nizam and most prosperous man in the world in his days.

Salarjung Museum

The Prime Minister of Nizam Os-man Ali Khan and Mir Yousuf AliKhan (Salar Jung III) together builtSalar Jung Museum, which is one ofthe largest private collections in theworld that covers exhibits from ev-ery part of the world. The museumhas over 35,000 items comprising ofwood carvings, sculptures, Persianminiature paintings, weaponry and a library of 50000 books. Hyderabadonce again became a major capital city, ruled by successive Nizams of theAsaf Jah dynasty until the state was merged into the Indian Union in 1948.

Birla Temple

The other famous places fortourism in Hyderabad are Birla tem-ple, Ramoji Filmcity, Nehru zoo-logical park, NTR garden, Lumbinipark etc. The Birla Temple isbuilt with white Rajastani marble in1976 and the temple is located ona rocky hill near to Hussain SagarLake.

Ramoji Filmcity

The Ramoji Film City is thelargest integrated film city in theworld and named by the GuinnessBook of World Records as the largeststudio on the planet. The RamojiFilm City boasts of first rated andcomprehensive film making equip-ment and other facilities which arebeing used by commercial film mak-ers from all states of India. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre,containing natural and artificial attractions including an amusement park.

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Nehru Zoological Park

The Nehru Zoo Park has almost 1,500 species of birds, animals and rep-tiles. The zoo has rich fauna including the avian fauna as well such asIndian Rhino, Asiatic Lion, Tiger, Panther, Giraffe, Gaur, Deer, Antelopes,Orangutan, and many more. The place also has a rich population of reptilessuch as Crocodile, Python, etc.

Shilparamam

Shilparamam, a crafts village,conceived in the year 1992, is situ-ated just about few kilometers fromHyderabad city. Sprawling over 65acres (260,000 m2) of land in the hi-tech hub city of India, Shilparamamgives a scenic ambience of traditionand cultural heritage. For promo-tion and preservation of Indian artsand crafts and to motivate the ar-tisans, the state government estab-lished this platform.

Pearls

The city of Hyderabad is knownfor pearls, Kalamkari handicraft,Kuchipudi dance, cusines etc. Hy-derabad is famous for its minaretsand its pearl bazaar. Pearl from allover the world are said to come toHyderabad because the artisans hereare skilled in piercing and string-ing pearls without damaging them.Therefore, the city is also known as”City of Pearls”. The city’s gypsy

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tribes called ”Lambadas” and ”Ban-jaras” are known throughout the country for their colorful costumes.

Kalamkari

The Kalamkari, a fine artof Handicraft of Andhra Pradesh,which originated in Machilipat-nam 3000 year ago, is also pop-ular in the city. This art hasbeen practised by many families inAndhra Pradesh and over the gen-erations has constituted their liveli-hood. Kalamkari had a certain de-cline, then it was revived in In-dia and abroad for its craftsman-ship.

Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi is one of the ten ma-jor Indian classical dances. It origi-nated in a village of Krishna districtin modern Indian state of AndhraPradesh. It is a dance-drama perfor-mance art, with its roots in the an-cient Hindu Sanskrit text of NatyaShastra. It developed as a reli-gious art linked to travelling bards,temples and spiritual beliefs, likeall major classical dances of In-dia.

Hyderabadi food

Hyderabad has two types ofcuisines, the Telugu cuisine and Hy-derabadi cuisine. Telugu cuisineis the part of South Indian cuisinecharacterized by their highly spicyfood. Whereas, Hyderabadi cuisine,which is an amalgamation of Per-sian cuisine, Mughlai, Telugu, Turk-ish cuisines, developed by the QutbShahi dynasty and the Nizams ofHyderabad and it comprises a broadrepertoire of rice, wheat and meat

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dishes and various spices and herbs. The Hyderabadi cuisine contains cityspecific specialities like Hyderabadi biryani, Hyderabadi Haleem, Qubani KaMeetha, Double Ka Meetha etc.

Hyderabad offers a variety of tourist attractions and it is like a treatfor lovers of history, art, architecture with several ornate tombs, palacesand mosques adorning the old city. To the traveller, Hyderabad offers afascinating panorama of the past, with a richly mixed cultural and historicaltradition spanning 400 colourful years.

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