Umaid Bhawan Palace
The Umaid Bhawan Palace: the jewel of Jodhpur
The Umaid Bhawan Palace is a comparatively young building, but it reflects the lordly splendor of bygone times. Hotel, museum and private rooms combined in one opulent building invite you to a longer stay for relaxation, culture and recreation.
History of the Umaid Bhawan Palace
The name of the 56 meter high, 195 meter long and 103 meter wide building goes back to its builder, the Maharajah Svasti Shri Rajadhiraja Sahib Umaid Singh II. Bahadur. Bhawan is the Hindi term for house. The then princely state of Marwar-Jodhpur in northwest India had to contend with a drought in the mid-1920s. In order to provide work for its poor and starving population, Umaid Singh II had the palace built. The Maharajah paid the construction costs of around 12 million rupees from his private assets. Umaid Singh II was able to win the Englishman Henry Vaughan Lanchester as the architect. The construction period for the Umaid Bhawan Palace near the Chittar Hills took place from 1929 to 1943.
An Art Deco and Renaissance sandstone palace
According to topschoolsintheusa, the central dome of the Umaid Bhawan Palace is designed in the Renaissance style, while the smaller towers are built in the style of the Rajputs, a formerly warlike ethnic group in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Western and Eastern architecture mix into a building that is extremely worthwhile for travel and study trips. Nowadays, divided into three parts, the total of 347 rooms offer luxurious relaxation in the hotel. The second part with old furnishings, weapons and paintings, a theater, a ballroom and the large castle park can be visited by tourists as a museum. The noble relatives of the builder still live in the third area today.
City Palace and Sea Palace
Udaipur is a lakeside city located in the middle of Rajasthan, India. Their romantic flair comes from the numerous, magnificent palaces, each of which tells its own story. Two of them stand out in particular: the City Palace and the Sea Palace. The city palace on Pichola Lake is now a museum, while the lake palace, which has been converted into a luxury hotel, seems like a dream. You should definitely take a boat trip to see the palace from the sea side.
The City Palace
The Stadtpalast or City Palace rises magnificently and majestically over the lake. It is surrounded by numerous towers, domes and balconies, from which one has a wonderful view of the city and the lake. The City Palace is the largest palace complex in Rajasthan. It is a collection of buildings erected by various Maharanas. It is particularly admirable that all these buildings come together to form a large, uniform, breathtakingly beautiful work of art. The first buildings were built by Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of the city.
The City Palace is entered through the Bari Pol and the Tripolia Gate, which consists of 8 marble arches. The main part of the city palace is now a museum, which has a large and multi-faceted, but somewhat dilapidated collection. One of the most famous and popular pieces is the Mor Chowk with its beautiful, colorful peacock mosaics. In the Manak or Ruba Mahal there is a collection of glass and porcelain figures, in the Bari Mahal a garden, in the Moti Mahal a collection of mirrors, and in the Zanana Mahal a wide variety of paintings.
The sea palace
The Sea Palace is located on Jagniwas, one of the islands in Pichola Lake. It was built in 1754 by Maharana Jagat Singh II. The majestic structure extends over the entire island. In the meantime, the lake palace has been converted into a luxury hotel with courtyards, gardens, fountains and a swimming pool – a complex that looks like a single dream made flesh. That seems like a fairy tale come true. Even if you can’t afford to spend the night here, you should go to the island to see the palace.
Palace of the Winds
There is only one real “Palace of the Winds”
It is actually called the Hawa Mahal – a building that is much better known to many study and India travelers as the “Palace of the Winds”:
It is quite possible that associations are awakened by the novel of the same name:
Novel and building completely different!
But the novel “Palast de Winde” has no reference to the famous building. Because here the British author Mary Margaret (Molly) Kaye, who lived in India when she was a child, commemorates the love between a British officer and an Indian princess.
A monument of a completely different kind, on the other hand, is the extraordinary building in the old town of Jaipur. One of the rapidly growing (approx. 3 million inhabitants) industrial metropolises on the subcontinent, which is located in the state of Rajasthan.
The “Palace of the Winds” is not the only highlight!
There are also numerous museums, a zoo and a university in the capital. There are also fortresses such as Fort Nahargarh, which today characterizes the cityscape.
But study trips to India in particular would be unthinkable without a visit to the Hawa Mahal. The building is part of the city palace and a symbol of the pomp and the sometimes lavish lifestyle of Indian princes. A pleasure palace that was built in 1799 and is world famous today.
An impressive architecture:
Five floors and numerous balconies give the “Palast de Winde” its very own character. A sensational look, to which the facade with its pink-red sandstone also makes a significant contribution.
On the street side, there are more than 900 small, barred windows, behind which, at least historians believe, the harem ladies used to expect the ruler to arrive or to look at the processions and ritual acts.
The building owes its German name to the windows and bars, which were supposed to ensure air circulation in hot and humid Rajasthan (the maximum temperatures here in May and June rise to over 40 degrees).
The ideal travel period for a study trip to the region is from September to April. Permission is usually required for photos taken with a tripod and flash; In addition, taking photos in forts etc. may cost a fee!
