Hawa Mahal is palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India and is also known as “Palace of Winds” or “Palace of the Breeze”. It is one of the best tourist attraction in Jaipur City. It was constructed in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh who was the ruler of Jaipur from 1778 to 1803.
The arcade of this palace built of red and pink sandstone by Lal Chand Ustad and designed in the form of the crown of Lord Krishna, the hindu god. The structure has the realization of the Rajputana architecture and the Islamic Mughal architecture. This palace has 953 small windows called jharokhas, decorated with tangled designs and shape like a pyramid. The main purpose of building Hawa Mahal was as women in early era are not allowed to appeared in public so this palace is constructed to facilitate the royal women and provide them view of everyday life
HISTORY OG HAWAMAHAL AND RESTORATION
Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh Who Founded Jaipur in 1727, his grandson Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh constructed the Hawa Mahal in 1799. Today’s remarkable gem of Rajput style of architecture, the Hawa Mahal is built since ladies of that era had to obey strict “purdah”(face cover) system, they can’t observe the everyday life in the streets below so decorated jharokhas are made i.e small windows to facilitate them. In this way they could enjoy their sense of freedom while maintaining their customs.
In 2006,after a gap of 50 years restoration and renovation works on Mahal were undertaken at an estimate cost of 4568 million. The corporate sector lent a hand to preserve the historical monuments of Jaipur and the Unit Trust of India has adopted Hawa Mahal to maintain it.
ARCHITECTURE OF HAWAMAHAL
Hawa mahal has a height of 50 feet from its base and is designed as a five-storey pyramidal shaped monument which shows an excellent blend of Hindu rajput architecture and the islamic Mughal architecture.Constructed of red and pink sandstones Lal Chand Ustad. It has total of five storeys.
The top three storeys of the structure have a thickness of single room width while the first and second storeys have patios in front of them. From the street the front elevation of the structure, is like a hineycomb web of beehive, which have small portholes. Each partholes have small windows known as jharokhas and carved sandtone grills, finials and domes. The interior of the palace is stark and plain with passages and pillars reaching to the top floor. Hawa mahal does not have stairs to reach the upper floors; the floors are connected by slopes.
The monument have archeological musuem also. From hawa mahal the view of the Jaipur city is excellent.
Nearby Tourist Attractions
There are number tourist place attractions around Hawa Mahal such as the famed Jantar Mantar, Govind Devji temple, Amer Fort, Ram Niwas Bagh, BM Birla Planetarium, Jain Temple, Statue Circle, Sisodia Rani Garden and so on.
Hawa mahal is the royal Rajputana architecture in jaipur, rajasthan. It is the most attracted place to visit in jaipur.
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