Located at Tripunithura, The Hill Palace is the largest archaeological museum in Kerala. It was built in the year 1865 and was once the Imperial Administrative offices and official residence of the Maharaja of Cochin. Just as the name suggests, the massive palace is located on a hill and has a beautiful garden. Built in 1865, the Palace complex consists of 49 buildings in the traditional architectural style, spreading across in 54 acres. The complex has an archaeological museum, a heritage museum, a deer park, a pre-historic park and a children's park. The huge white coloured buildings are neat, clean and well maintained. The terraced lawn, ponds and fountain are perfect for outdoor photography. The palace is also famous for being the backdrop of various movies. The most popular amongst them is the Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu.
The enormous palace complex is famous for being a full-fledged ethnoarchaeological museum and the first ever heritage museum of the state. Upon visiting, one can see the oil paintings, murals, sculptures, swords, crowns, coins, manuscripts and various other belongings of the Kochi royal family. Apart from that, antique ceramics from the Far East, Kudakkallu (tombstone), Thoppikkallu (hood stone), laterite memorials, contemporary art and wooden memorials from ancient civilisations like the Indus Valley and Harada are also kept for display here. The main highlight among the above is the Gold crown which is embedded with precious stones. The rooms in here are also huge, declaring the lavish lifestyle of former kings and his household.