Palace
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Utheemu Ganduvaru Palace
Utheemu Ganduvaru is the 16th-century wooden palace on Utheemu Island where Sultan Mohamed Thakurufaanu, the greatest national hero of the Maldives, was born and raised. Thakurufaanu led a daring guerrilla war that liberated the Maldives from Portuguese colonial rule in 1573. Preserved as a sacred national shrine, the palace is renowned for haunting midnight sounds, spectral glimpses of ancient freedom fighters, and lingering spiritual energy from the liberation war.