Hawa Mahal

At the very centre of Jaipur stands Hawa Mahal, the 'Palace of Winds', built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, grandson of the city's founder Sawai Jai Singh. It was built specifically as a zenana, a chamber for the royal women, who under the strict rules of purdah were forbidden from appearing in public with their faces uncovered — its famous lattice-screened windows let them observe daily life and royal processions on the street below without ever being seen themselves.

Pratap Singh drew inspiration from the wind palace at Khetri in Jhunjhunu district, and commissioned the same architect, Lalchand Ustad, to design this one. Because Pratap Singh was a devoted follower of Lord Krishna, Ustad shaped the entire facade in the form of Krishna's crown. Curiously, the grand honeycomb facade seen from the main road has no entrance — visitors instead enter through the Chandra Pol gate after passing the Ananda Pol, arriving in a courtyard with a central fountain and, to the north, the Bhojan Shala.