There’s a museum in the corridors of Jehan Numa Palace

Tall marble pillars frame photos, automobiles and more, as the Bhopal royals open up their past at the Jehan Numa Palace Hotel

Over the years, the Jehan Numa Palace in Bhopal — built on the slopes of the Shyamla Hills in 1890 by General Obaidullah Khan, commander-in-chief of the Bhopal State Force, and the second son of Nawab Sultan Jehan Begum — has worn many garbs. The white marble edifice, which melds British Colonial, Italian Renaissance and Classical Greek architectural styles with facets of Art Deco, was constructed as the general’s office, and then used as his sons’ secretariat. After Independence, it became a government hostel, and later, the offices of the Geological Survey of India.

In 1983, after restoring the five-acre property, the general’s grandsons reopened it as a heritage hotel — its colonnaded corridors showcasing sepia-toned portraits, and the interiors housing rooms, four restaurants, two bars and a spa. Now, the pandemic has given it another facet: a museum, which came together almost like a “jigsaw puzzle”, says Faiz Rashid, director of the Jehan Numa Group of Hotels and a member of the Bhopal royal family.

“[Over the last 20-odd months] we tried to come up with innovative ways to nurture hospitality. Because of the time on hand, we started looking at family archives and thought why not share the legacy with the world,” says Rashid. He tells me about putting together memorabilia: artefacts, attire, “lovely letters in Urdu” written to his great grandfather, documents, “invoices of the cars the royal family bought [like a Ford Phantom and a customised Bentley]” — all of which are now on show at the hotel.

“General Obaidullah Khan accompanied his mother, the last begum, on her foreign trips. He was inspired by different architectural styles, and the display is a pictorial history of the hotel’s evolution from the time it was built in the 19th century,” he says.

The corridors along the central courtyard, with its famed 100-year-old mango tree, were chosen as the ideal backdrop for the display. I take a virtual tour of the elegantly-framed archives, arranged in clusters on the walls of the chequered black-and-white marble and granite corridors, zooming into the photographs, and taking in glimpses of the life and times of a pre-Independence royalty that was progressive and involved, wealthy but not flamboyant, stylish but never garish.

The family took the help of Joe Alvarez, the well-known jazz singer who has written a coffee-table book on Bhopal, to curate the memorabilia. “We divided them into nine subjects, starting with the four begums, the last nawab, dignitary visits, nawabi sports and the outdoors, and such,” says Alvarez, who has also generated a voice-over, and added a QR code to enable a Walk-In Museum audio guide. He expounds about the images of a thriving stud farm, something that continues till date (a trotting track set up when the hotel opened gives visitors a peek into the royal family’s passion for breeding thoroughbreds), of custom-built automobiles, branded guns and weapons, and official visits by dignitaries.

“The nawab begums of Bhopal were very dynamic and built the city differently from male rulers. They focussed on all areas, from education to women’s empowerment. We realised so much of their contribution — like building hospitals, enhancing the railways, opening schools — while putting this together,” shares Rashid, adding that, in 1889, Shah Jehan Begum funded the construction of Britain’s first purpose-built mosque at Woking. The collection is still evolving as more memorabilia makes its way to them slowly, from the extended family. A plan to restore and display the wedding dresses of the begums is also in the pipeline.