Hawa Mahal

Hawa Mahal ('Palace of Winds') was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh of Jaipur, designed by architect Lal Chand Ustad in the form of Krishna's crown. The structure is a five-storey pink-sandstone screen with 953 small windows (jharokhas), each topped by an arched canopy. Each window is small enough — and the latticework dense enough — that royal women in the zenana (women's quarters) could observe the streets of Jaipur and the city's frequent royal processions without being seen, in keeping with the strict purdah of the time. The windows also produce the venturi effect that gives the palace its name: even on the hottest summer days, breezes are channelled through the lattice and circulate through the rooms behind. The facade is essentially a single-room-deep extension of the larger City Palace complex; from the inside, the structure is much narrower than the spectacular street view suggests. The interior rooms held the queens during durbar-day spectator viewing. The 50-foot facade is among the most photographed in India — sunset from the Wind View Cafe across the road is the standard tourist shot. Inside, the climb to the upper levels (no lifts) gives a city panorama. Closed nothing — open daily.