This photograph shows visitors to the Amber Fort, enjoying an elephant ride up to the hillfort. The Amber Fort is a real favourite with tourists visiting the Jaipur region.

Jaipur City “The Pink City”

Founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, Jaipur City is now the capital of Rajasthan State .  The capital was moved to Jaipur from Amber City, due to concerns over an increasing population and worries over a shortage of water.

To mark the state visit of the Prince of Wales in 1853, the whole city was painted pink. To this day some avenues still remain pink in colour. The 19^th century witnessed the city grow considerably and by 1900 the populace had reached 160,000. Amongst the main industries were metal and marble.

Here are just some of the most visited sites and monuments, which feature highly on the lists of tourists, as places of interest in Jaipur:

Amber Fort or Amer Fort - Situated 11km from Jaipur, this hilltop fort was built by Raja Man Singh in the 16^th century. The fort was actually constructed on the site of a previous structure and exhibits both Hindu and Muslim influences.

The fort is as one would expect, rough and functional on the exterior; however, once inside the visitor experiences a complete change in tone, to one of luxury with paintings, mosaics, frescos, carvings and tiny intricate mirror work. It was said, that only one candle need be lit in such rooms, to illuminate the entire room via the mirrors.

The complex is subdivided into four parts and today tourists enjoy an elephant ride up to the fort, whilst looking down over the Maotha Lake reflecting back a mirror image of the fort in its water.

Hawa Mahad “ Palace of Winds ” - This unusual red sandstone structure was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799. The façade is of a pyramid nature, reaching five storeys in height. At every level there are small windows, intricately decorated with lattice work and totalling in excess of 950. This was not built as a residence and is generally considered, to have been utilised by the women of the royal household, who were not permitted to enter into the street and from this vantage point they would have been able to observe the comings and goings in the streets below, including processions and the like.

One of the most favourable times to visit this giant honeycomb, is in the early morning, as this is when it is bathed in golden sunlight.

City Palace – Located next to the “ Palace of Winds ” this substantial complex covers a large area and contains buildings, courtyards and gardens.  The original idea of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the City Palace now houses an armoury museum with displays of Rajput weaponry, an art gallery and examples of royal costumes, folk prints and embroidery.

The City Palace also proudly houses two huge water vessels, believed to be the largest stirling silver objects in the world. They were made under the instruction of Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II, as he did not want to risk drinking the English water during his travels abroad.

Jantar Mantar – Constructed between 1727 and 1734 by Maharaja Jai Singh II, Jantar Mantar is still the largest stone observatory in the world today. Jantar Mantar or “Calculation Instrument” comprises of 14 major geometric devices. This was not the only observatory built by the Maharaja, he was also responsible for four other important sites of this nature; however this one in Jaipur is the largest.

“Samrat Yantra” the sundial, is the world’s largest sundial, standing at 27 metres tall and still today is accurate to within 2 seconds of Jaipur real time.