including the unconventional horn violin, theremin and calliaphone, a mechanical music player. The Mysore court was home to several renowned experts (vidwan) of the time. Veena Sheshanna, a court musician during the rule of Maharaja Chamaraja X, is considered one of the greatest exponents of the veena. His achievements in classical music won Mysore a premier place in the art of instrumental Carnatic music and he was given the honorific Vainika Shikhamani by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. Mysore Vasudevacharya was a noted musician and composer in Sanskrit and Telugu from Mysore. He holds the unique distinction of being patronised by four generations of Mysore kings and rulers and for being court musician to three of them. H.L. Muthiah Bhagavatar was another musician-composer who adorned the Mysore court. Considered one of the most important composers of the post-Tyagaraja period, he is credited with about 400 compositions in Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil under the pen name "Harikesha". Among violinists, T. Chowdiah emerged as one of the most accomplished exponents of the time. He is known to have mastered the seven-stringed violin. Chowdiah was appointed court musician by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV in 1939 and received such titles as "Sangeeta Ratna" and "Sangeeta Kalanidhi". He is credited with compositions in Kannada, Telugu and Sanskrit under the pen name "Trimakuta". Architecture The architectural style of courtly and royal structures in the kingdom underwent profound changes during British rule – a mingling of European traditions with native elements. The Hindu temples in the kingdom were built in typical South Indian Dravidian style – a modest version of the Vijayanagara building idiom. When in power, Tipu Sultan constructed two places namely Lal Mahal Palace (later destroyed after the siege of Serirangpatnam in 1799) and Summer palace and famous Masjid e Aala in Srirangapatna, his capital. However, it is the city of Mysore that is best known for its royal palaces, earning it the nickname "City of Palaces". The city's main palace, the Mysore Palace, is also known as the Amba Vilas Palace. The original complex was destroyed by fire and a new palace was commissioned by the Queen-Regent and designed by the English architect Henry Irwin in 1897. The overall design is a combination of Hindu, Islamic, Indo-Saracenic and Moorish styles, which for the first time in India, used cast iron columns and roof frames. The striking feature of the exterior is the granite columns