Sadly, with language study and just everyday life here it's not very often that we actually go sightseeing. A few weeks ago, however, we spent a Saturday doing some touring of areas we had not previously seen. We went to Hawa Mahal, otherwise known as the Wind Palace. Here's a little history from a website on this palace. "The best-known landmark and the signature monument of Jaipur, Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds was built by the poet King Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799 AD. Though, it is a part of the City Palace, it is situated on the other side of the road. It is the delicate façade that can be seen from outside of this palace, which is the most notable. The five-storeyed building flaunts Rajput architecture and artistry to its best including its 953 pink sandstone windows known as 'jharokhas' that are built in such as manner that it resembles a giant honeycomb. Meant for the ladies of the royal household, the building was built to allow them to watch the colorful bazaars and processions going across the city while maintaining their tradition of being veiled and not to be seen from outside."
Front of Hawa Mahal
Looking out from inside Hawa Mahal
Interior of Hawa Mahal
Backside of Hawa Mahal
Backside of Hawa Mahal from inner courtyard
3 comments :
Neato! It doesn't look real well kept. Does the government do anything to try and preserve places like this?
Cory, the government tries to keep up their monuments and historical sights. Unfortunetely the efforts are not quite as thorough or prevalent as those of most US historical sights. The local museum had about half of the displays intact when we visited. The other displays were empty, broken or contained artifacts which were in such direpair that they were not recognizable. It was not like going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
0_o wow. cool.really!
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