Shakthan Thampuran palace, located in the heart of Thrissur city near the Vadakkunnatha temple, is only 2kms from Thrissur railway station. The palace, now preserved by the Archaeological Department, highlights several interesting and outstanding attributes of the former rulers of Cochin. The palace also known as 'Thoppu', covering an area of 6 acres of land, narrates the history of Thrissur which was the old capital of Kochi Kingdom. Earlier known as Vadakkekara palace, it is named after the great ruler Raja Rama Varma Shakthan Thampuran who reconstructed the palace in a unique Kerala- Dutch style in the year 1795. The palace is a two storeyed building in the traditional 'naalukkettu' style with high roofs, thick walls and Italian marbled floors. It also has a serpent grove, which is meant for worship of serpents. A highly structured museum with different galleries like Bronze gallery, Sculpture gallery, Epigraphy gallery, gallery for Household Utensils, Numismatics gallery, History gallery and Megalithic gallery is another specialty. An archeological garden is situated at the northeastern part of the palace. Here one can see three tombs including that of Shakthan Thampuran. It is believed that the Mysore rulers, including Tippu Sultan had stayed here and the flag mast in front of the palace was erected by him.