The Pink city still retains the traditional culture and its old character. The walls and stones are plasters as pink which looks fabulous. The major example of architecture in the Pink City is the Hawa Mahal. It was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in the year 1799. It was a late addition to the city palace. This building is dedicated to Lord Krishna and Radha and is built in pink and red sandstone. It is a five storied, pyramid shaped structure which is made up of 953 small casements. Each encasement consists of sculptured architecture in Jaipur work on pink windows, curved roofs and small balconies with many windows.
City Palace serving the best exemplar of Architecture in Jaipur
City palace is situated in the heart of the Pink city, slightly northeast in the very center of Jaipur. Although the Palace was designed according to the Vaastushastra but still Rajput, Mughal and European architectural styles are reflected in the City Palace. The City Palace was built under the rule of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in the year 1699 and continued till 1744. The city palace is divided into two parts- One part is Sawai Man Singh museum and other is still the residing palace of the former Maharaja. The palace shows the regal architecture and rich heritage of Mughals as well as it also shows the interesting view of the Pink city. The former maharaja still lives in the top most floor of Chandra Mahal which is also known as Moon Mahal which was built by Sawai Jai Singh II. Beautifully carved, two marble elephants greet at the doorstep of the City Palace, where the ‘Mubarak Mahal’ emerges first or welcome palace which is also known as reception center which was constructed by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II, who was the grandfather of the Present Maharaja. Mubarak Mahal contains 3 museums in it: Textile Museum, Arm Museum, and Art Museum. The Diwan- E-Khas is also known as Hall of Private Audience which is fully built with marble and sandstones. It has two huge silver vessels on display. Diwan- I- Am is the hall of Public Audience which contains the miniature paintings, carpets, photographs in it. To construct this fabulous palace Rajasthani and Mughal architectural techniques are used in them.
Jantar Mantar, the next exemplar of Architecture in Jaipur
Jantar Mantar is also very famous for its architecture. It was built by Raja Jai Singh II between the years 1727 – 1733. It is also known as Jaipur Observatory. It contains 14 major geometric devices for tracking stars in there orbits, predicting eclipses, measuring time, finding out the inclinations of planets and determining the altitudes of celestial bodies. The largest instrument is of 90 feet height. Its shadow predicts the time of the day.
Vastu concepts involved in the Architecture in Jaipur
Vastu principles and astronomical principles add more beauty to the Jaipur architecture. Vastu is followed in all the buildings built in the Royal period to maintain peace in the city. Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of Jaipur had a great knowledge of Vastu and was an astronomer. Vastu is followed in all the architectural buildings and that is the only reason that Jaipur architecture is known among the modern architects across the world and is a wonderful case study. In architecture of Jaipur, the urban quarters are divided by network of streets and every street is connected to the main road. So that no one can wander in the streets even when one is not familiar with the ways. Architecture of new Jaipur city is not based on Vastu concepts and astronomy but is based on the new architectural concepts. It is really good to walk in the streets of old city in early morning when traffic is less and one can enjoy beauty of the architecture.