Jaipur

Jaipur is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan, set among the dry Aravalli hills in the east of the state. Its old city was painted pink in the 1870s to welcome the Prince of Wales, and it has been called the Pink City ever since.

Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of the Kachwaha dynasty founded Jaipur in 1727 and moved his capital there from the hill fort of Amber. The architect Vidyadhar Bhattacharya laid out the city on a grid of broad streets and blocks, following old Indian rules of planning. Jai Singh was also an astronomer, and he built observatories in several cities of northern India. The walled city of Jaipur was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019.

Jaipur is a center of gem cutting, especially of emeralds, which are cut and polished in workshops of the old city. Blue pottery, made from quartz paste instead of clay and painted with Persian patterns, is a craft of the city. Jaipur Rugs, a company based in the city, works with weavers in villages across India to make hand-knotted carpets.

The Hawa Mahal, a palace of pink sandstone with a facade of small latticed windows, was built so that the women of the court could watch the street unseen. Jantar Mantar, the observatory of Jai Singh, has stone instruments for measuring time and the positions of the stars, among them a giant sundial. The City Palace, still partly the home of the former royal family, holds museums of costumes and paintings. Amber Fort, on a hill north of the city, has mirror halls and gardens inside its walls. Each January the Jaipur Literature Festival brings writers and readers from around the world to the city.