Every Sunday night at 7 PM, tourist and locals line the gates to see the lighting of Amba Vilas Palace, located in the city of Mysore, Karnataka. Tourists and locals jostle for the best spot to take pictures from behind the palace gates while vendors and touts are on hand to capture any chance to move more merchandise.

Standing outside the palace gates among the crowd and vendors

The lighting also occurs on national holidays and state festivals. More than 100,000 light bulbs stay lit for just one hour at a cost of Rs 80,000 ($1750). In 2009, the Mysore Palace Board decided to indefinitely stall the replacement of incandescent bulbs with far less energy exhaustive LED bulbs. At the time they stated they were not fully “satisfied” with the effect LED lighting offered. Instead the palace will continue to be lit by 15 watt bulbs. Originally 40 watt bulbs were used but lowered to prevent overloading of the circuits. Lighting of the palace is a highlight for tourism of Mysore for which the palace spends approximately Rs 90,000 in maintenance costs alone annually.

Countless tuk tuk’s are available for transport afterward if you arrived on foot or bus. Do see this spectacular free public display while in Mysore.