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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Heritage Madurai.

Last week saw us visit the beautiful Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, devour traditionally prepared South Indian lunches served on banana leaves and get lost in a tropical haven created by Geoffery Bawa.
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Heritage Madurai is a 17-acre resort originally called the Madurai Club and was designed by the famous Sri Lankan architect Geoffery Bawa. Bawa's style of blending indoor & outside spaces is evident through out the resort.
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Locally sourced materials and natural elements makes this place very unique. Bawa's disciple Vinod Jayasinghe has restored this resort to it's former glory by blending tradition with modern luxuries.
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Granite used liberally at the resort.
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Intricately carved door at the reception area.
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Reception area with antique wicker work chair.
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Entrance lobby with fresh floating flowers in a granite urli.
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Lotus leaves growing tall at the entrance area.her21
'Frangipani' trees framing the Luxury Villas.her5
Granite pillars and furniture at the Luxury Villas.her7
Our room.her15

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Traditional wooden doors and granite formed the main design in the room.her4
Our very own plunge pool with Frangipani tree!her22
Do we really need to head back home?her2
Temple Tank inspired pool at dusk.
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Dining area at dusk.
Geoffery Bawa~ I really adore your style. Madurai ~ I enjoyed your rich culture.
(Images by Arch)
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23 comments:

  1. arundatiAugust 23, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    gorgeous!

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  2. UnknownAugust 23, 2011 at 9:36 PM

    Archana - This place is Heaven on earth...gorgeous. Thanks for sharing...hopping back for another dekho...

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  3. InduAugust 23, 2011 at 9:41 PM

    How absolutely beautiful!

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  4. AnonymousAugust 23, 2011 at 11:06 PM

    love the two lamps on either side of the bed. gorgeous

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  5. ShanthiAugust 23, 2011 at 11:31 PM

    Gorgeous place Archana. I wish I had known this place last year :-), we were in Madurai last year with my daughter and 7 of her friends from Norway. But we enjoyed the temple and it is so gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Preethi VaidyaAugust 24, 2011 at 12:54 AM

    Such a beautiful place.. Thanks for sharing Archana. We'll have this place in mind when we go to Madurai.

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  7. AnonymousAugust 24, 2011 at 1:31 AM

    I stayed at Kandalama in SL another space designed by geffeory Bawa and i got to stay in his Fav room..with absolutely amazing view.
    Sharanya~

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  8. AnithaAugust 24, 2011 at 3:25 AM

    Hi,

    I am from Madurai and this place used to the quarters for Madura Coats Managers. I went to the Coats School, Vikaasa, and hence, had a lot of friends who used to live there. It used to heaven on earth, even then...The Taj property in Pasumalai also used to be the quarters of the President of Coats and I think, was designed by the same architect...brings back wonderful memories

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  9. AnithaAugust 24, 2011 at 7:29 AM

    Beautiful Place! Will add it to my list!

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  10. AarthiAugust 24, 2011 at 8:28 AM

    Arch,

    Enjoyed seeing my hometime in your pics on Flickr.
    The plunge pool pictured here so reminds me of the water tank in my grandma's house(and many houses had that)
    I used to be thrilled just to step in there to get buckets of water

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  11. Bhavna BhatnagarAugust 24, 2011 at 9:26 AM

    This place is gorgeous! These are the times when I wish the south was little closer to the north, and we could just drive over :)

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  12. ShaliniAugust 24, 2011 at 10:50 AM

    Fantastic design....looks both contemporary and traditional.

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  13. SudhaAugust 24, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    in total awe of the place and ur pics..was waiting to see this post :)

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  14. HemaAugust 24, 2011 at 12:43 PM

    Archana, thanks for this post. This place is gorgeous! Loved the temple pond style pool with frangipani trees. Big fan of your blog :)

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  15. kannanokannanAugust 24, 2011 at 6:36 PM

    Thanks for Sharing :)

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  16. UnknownAugust 24, 2011 at 7:56 PM

    I am really inspired by your lodging choices. I also like the way you have clicked pictures. It really takes you there. Nice post again Archana.

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  17. Divya ShankarAugust 24, 2011 at 9:23 PM

    A separate world in itself :) Thanks for the many pics, literally a virtual tour. Hope you visited the Meenakshi temple and tirumala nayakar mahal at Madurai.

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  18. Sans!August 24, 2011 at 10:58 PM

    I am a huge fan of Geoffrey Bawa! Thanks for sharing :)

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  19. PreeOccupiedAugust 25, 2011 at 2:12 PM

    I love all the photographs in this post. Lets me live in this gorgeous place vicariously.

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  20. cocktail dressesAugust 29, 2011 at 11:14 PM

    it is so beautiful and traditional..
    pool is awesome..
    this place looks so quite and refreshing.

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  21. AnonymousAugust 31, 2011 at 3:00 PM

    Thank you for sharing :)

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  22. SarithaSeptember 4, 2011 at 3:49 AM

    Archana, this is rather eerie. I was in Colombo last week looking at Bawa's office that is now the Gallery Cafe/Bar/Restaurant. Missed seeing his other properties as it was the Ramzan holiday there.

    BTW, the Madurai property used to be the quarters for the Madura Coats and Fenner senior employees. It also had a club house. I visited the place years ago when I lived tehre as a kid and a lot of my friends used to live there. Am glad to see it has been converted so beautifully retaining the essence of the place.

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  23. Srinith De SilvaFebruary 12, 2012 at 9:25 PM

    Greeting from Heritage Madurai! We appreciate your review and hope Heritage Madurai lived up to your expectations.While restoring the buildings and gardens we used material sourced from within 20 miles of Madurai.We have such talented artisans in India, we were happy to encourage them. You have understood the ethos of our property and that is truly special.

    Srintih DeSilva

    General Manager Heritage Madurai

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