The Palace of the Winds

Sir Edwin Arnold thought Hawa Mahal was "a vision of daring and dainty loveliness, of storeys of rosy masonry and delicate overhanging balconies and latticed windows. Soaring with tier after tier of fanciful architecture in a pyramidal form, a very mountain of airy and audacious beauty through the thousand pierced screens and gilded arches of which the Indian air blows cool over the flat roofs of the very highest house." As quoted in, Delhi Agra Jaipur, by Surendra Sahai. See more at https://kimcarpenterphotos.smugmug.com/Hawa-Mahal-Jaipur-India/. kimcarpenter (Atlas Obscura User)

Hawa Mahal Jakub Hałun / CC BY-SA 4.0

Palace of the winds rutledgedavid37 (Atlas Obscura User)

Palace of Winds rutledgedavid37 (Atlas Obscura User)

Hawa Mahal phillipstexa (Atlas Obscura User)

nicolab (Atlas Obscura User)

"At first glance it seems to be whimsical in design. From the roadside, from where most visitors look at it, Hawa Mahal looks like a mere facade. But there is much more to it than meets the eye. Actually, it is the last portion of an extensive Zenana palace meant for the royal ladies, a palace of winds away from the claustrophobic surroundings of a palace guarded by battalions of liveried guards." From, Delhi Agra Jaipur, by Surendra Sahai. More at https://kimcarpenterphotos.smugmug.com/Hawa-Mahal-Jaipur-India/ kimcarpenter (Atlas Obscura User)

The palace, from "New Pictorial Atlas of the World" by George Wharton James and Alan H. Burgoyne, John Thomas, New York, 1921. Public Domain

Backside of Hawa Mahal. Miya.m/CC BY-SA 3.0

Close up of Hawa Mahal. Avantica David/CC BY-SA 3.0

Palace of the Winds. Ritesh Gupta (Used with Permission)

Collector of Experiences (Atlas Obscura User)

Hawa Mahal Paracelsus (Atlas Obscura User)

Inside the windows of the Palace of the Winds Vssun/CC BY-SA 3.0

Palace of the Winds rutledgedavid37 (Atlas Obscura User)

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The 953 windows covering the lace-like facade of the Palace of the Winds were designed to allow the ladies of the royal court to watch the drama of the streets unobserved behind their delicate latticework.

Known as Hawa Mahal in Hindi, the Palace of the Winds was constructed in 1799 for Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh as part of the women’s section of the enormous City Palace at the center of Jaipur. The facade we see from the street is essentially an enormous screened porch, one room deep in most places.

The palace’s distinctive rosy color comes from the natural sandstone from which it is built which also gives Jaipur its nickname, “The Pink City.”

The Palace of the Winds is considered one of the finest examples of Rajput architecture in India.