Halcyon Castle was built in 1932 in the princely state of Travancore, in the modern day state of Kerala, India. It was constructed by M.R.Ry Sri Rama Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran, the consort of H.H. Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, as a retreat for their family. In 1964 the entire property was sold to the Government of Kerala by the Valiya Koil Thampuran, and has since been converted into a deluxe hotel. The castle became disputed when the ITDC (India Tourism Development Corporation) who was running the hotel sold out the hotel to a private Hotel resort group. The government of Kerala is trying to take the possession of the castle by claiming it as a heritage site, although, not without challenge by the hotel group.
The Halcyon castle is also known as Kovalam Palace, as it is situated in the international beach resort of Kovalam in Trivandrum. The palace is now under the possession of Leela Group, which runs the 5 star deluxe hotel in Kovalam.
Famous quotes containing the words halcyon and/or castle:
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Whose nest is in a watered shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;”
—Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)
“If, in looking at the lives of princes, courtiers, men of rank and fashion, we must perforce depict them as idle, profligate, and criminal, we must make allowances for the rich men’s failings, and recollect that we, too, were very likely indolent and voluptuous, had we no motive for work, a mortal’s natural taste for pleasure, and the daily temptation of a large income. What could a great peer, with a great castle and park, and a great fortune, do but be splendid and idle?”
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)