Chowmahalla Palace

Chowmahalla Palace or Chowmahallat is the palace of the Nizams of Hyderabad State located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was the seat of power of the Asaf Jahi dynasty and was the official residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad during their reign. Presently the palace is converted into a museum but the ownership still lies with the family.The palace is constructed at the location of an earlier palace of the Qutb Shahi Dynasty and Asaf Jahi Dynasty close to the Charminar. Construction of the palace as it stands today was started by Nizam Ali Khan Asaf Jah II in 1769. He ordered the building of four palaces from which the nomenclature of Chau Mahalla was acquired. The word chār or chahār, and its variation chow, means "four" and the word mahal means "palace" in Urdu, Hindi and Persian.