Less than 100 kilometres from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, on top of a hill in the town of Maheshwar, the world falls away, time takes a breather and then spectacularly rolls back. The formidable ramparts of the Maheshwar Fort with the ageless Narmada River flowing below is not a sight that can be forgotten. The walls of this fort hold the architectural legacy of the 18th-century queen of Malwa, Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar. Here, too, lies Ahilya Wada, her personal residence, which was restored to its former glory and converted into the heritage Ahilya Fort Hotel. “Restoration has been a part of what we have been doing in Maheshwar for the last 25 years. In 2001, my father started the restoration of the wada, which was a three-year process,” says Yeshwant Holkar.
Back then, when Yeshwant’s father, Richard Holkar, princely descendant of Maharani Ahilyabai and son of the last maharaja of Indore, chose to restore this home of the Holkars, he decided to turn it into a heritage hotel. He was helped along in this endeavour by his friend Dieter Meier, who “was a great support and advisor to my father as he started his journey in hospitality”, Yeshwant reveals.
This story is from the September 2020 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
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This story is from the September 2020 edition of AD Architectural Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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