Manik Bagh, Architectural palace in Indore, India.

Manik Bagh is a U-shaped palace in Indore, built of white stone with a marble floor and walls coated in fine glass dust. Its 40 rooms open onto terraces, and a separate external corridor served about 80 servants. The furniture was largely made of black ebony, as were most of the columns.

German architect Eckart Muthesius designed this palace between 1930 and 1939 for Maharaja Yashwant Rao Holkar II and his wife Sanyogita Devi. Its construction marks a period when European architects came to India to create modern residences for royal families.

The name Manik Bagh means "Ruby Garden" or "Gem Garden". The maharaja's friend Henri-Pierre Roché assembled the furnishings: a Baccarat crystal service, Puiforcat silverware bearing the royal arms, a deckchair by Eileen Gray, a floor lamp by Jean Perzel, a chaise longue by Le Corbusier and screens by Drian. Two double portraits of the maharaja and his wife by Bernard Boutet de Monvel, painted in 1929, hung in the palace.

The walls were treated with glass dust instead of wallpaper to protect against the high humidity of the region. Visitors should expect varying light conditions throughout the building due to its varied window and opening arrangements.

The 1930s interior was dispersed long before the building changed hands: the furniture, lamps and fittings were sold at Sotheby's in Monaco in 1980. A 2019 exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, "Moderne Maharajah", reassembled pieces such as the aluminium bed by Louis Sognot and Charlotte Alix and work by Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann.