India

Jaipur City, Rajasthan

WHS Score 3.4
rate
Votes 82 Average 3.6
Show votes
Votes for Jaipur City, Rajasthan

1.0

  • Christravelblog

2.0

  • Clem C

2.5

  • Adrian Turtschi
  • Ammon Watkins
  • Bernard Joseph Esposo Guerrero
  • Gordon Mitchell
  • HaraldOest
  • Lukasz Palczewski
  • Luke LOU
  • Ralf Regele
  • Shandos Cleaver
  • travtasy

3.0

  • Alexander Parsons
  • Alikander99
  • BMuramatsu
  • CalvinLoh
  • David Marton
  • Els Slots
  • Jakubmarin
  • Jean Lecaillon
  • Jon Opol
  • kelseyyurek
  • Lucio
  • MoPython
  • nan
  • Randi Thomsen
  • Richard Stone
  • Sachin
  • Svein Elias
  • Tevity
  • Tony H.
  • Wieland
  • Zoë Sheng

3.5

  • Akhilpreeti
  • Alex Marcean
  • Carlo Sarion
  • Chalamphol Therakul
  • Clyde
  • Daniel Gabi
  • Frederik Dawson
  • GerhardM
  • Kevin McFarland
  • Philipp Peterer
  • Riccardo Quaranta
  • Solivagant
  • Szucs Tamas
  • Tarquinio_Superbo
  • Twobaconsandaboston
  • Wojciech Fedoruk
  • Xiquinho Silva

4.0

  • adiaro18
  • akacesfan
  • Alexander Lehmann
  • Carlos Garrido
  • Dutchnick
  • Javier
  • Jeffrey Chai
  • J_neveryes
  • Joyce van Soest
  • Mkandasa
  • patphilly
  • Philipp Leu
  • Tamara Ratz

4.5

  • Aspasia
  • Fede1203
  • Juropa
  • Kokoro

5.0

  • amitlchoudhuryjbp
  • Chole Ross
  • Craig Harder
  • George Evangelou
  • ge zhang
  • Jezza
  • Koen Vliegenthart
  • Laurine
  • Lembu
  • Martina Rúčková
  • Priyaranjan Mohapatra
  • roxfts
  • Travelure
  • Vernon Prieto
  • Yamen

Jaipur City, Rajasthan, is a planned city combining ancient Hindu, Mughal and contemporary Western ideas.

It was designed in 1727 by Raja Jai Singh to fit a commercial city with space for markets and crafts. It has a rigid grid plan and uniform street facades. Iconic monuments include the Govind Dev temple, City Palace, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal.

Community Perspective: With two other WHS within reaching distance (Jantar Mantar, Amber Fort) this is an obligatory stop. Most reviewers found the ‘Pink City’ in dire need of restoration. The City Palace and the Water Palace are recommended for a visit, as well as the iconic façade of the Hawa Mahal.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Jaipur City, Rajasthan (ID: 1605)
Country
India
Status
Inscribed 2019 Site history
History of Jaipur City, Rajasthan
2019: Advisory Body overruled
ICOMOS advised Deferral, WHC went for Inscribe after Brazil amendment (14:5 over Referral)
2019: Inscribed
Inscribed
WHS Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • ii
  • iv
  • vi
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Urban landscape: Asian
Travel Information
Exact locations inscribed twice (or more)
Exact locations inscribed twice (or more)
Jantar Mantar lies within core zone of Jaipur City
Recent Connections
View all (11) .
Connections of Jaipur City, Rajasthan
Individual People
Trivia
History
  • Mughal Empire
    The new capital was intended to be a strong political statement to rival cities of the Mughal Empire elsewhere on what is now the Indian subcontinent (AB ev)
Architecture
  • Art Deco
    The last distinct phase was during the early 20th century, when the city expanded in all directions. This period saw the introduction of the Art Deco style, which was adapted to the building typologies (AB ev)
  • Indo-Saracenic architecture
    "Jaleb Chowk is one the grandest historic public space in the city. It marks the entrance to the City Palace and was historically used as a parade ground. The areas has Naya Mahal, a palace constructed as an exhibition space in the 19th century and later converted into a conference auditorium for official meetings in the early 20th century. The building is a unique example of Indo-Saracenic architecture." (nom file)
World Heritage Process
Human Activity
Constructions
  • Clock Tower
    City Palace: It is a sign of European influence in the Rajput court as the clock was installed in a pre-existing tower in 1873. (wiki)
Timeline
WHS Names
  • Named after individual people
    Jaipur was founded in 1727 by the Kacchawa Rajput ruler Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amer, after whom the city is named. (wiki)
News

No news.

Recent Visitors
View all (274)
Visitors of Jaipur City, Rajasthan
Reserved for members.

Community Reviews

Show full reviews
First published: 30/07/19.

Clyde

Jaipur City, Rajasthan

Jaipur City, Rajasthan (Inscribed)

Jaipur City, Rajasthan by Clyde

I visited this WHS in January 2012. It's a great base to visit the Jantar Mantar WHS and the inscribed Amber Fort which is only 11km away from Jaipur. Other nearby forts worth visiting with the one in Amer are the Jaigarh Fort and the Nahargarh Fort. 

The pink city was in dire need of restoration when I visited and pretty much everything except the Palace of the Winds/Hawa Mahal facade (photo) was crumbling although the structures are not that old! Jaipur is one of those places on the WH list which unjustifiably have separate WHS for specific buildings and as a historic centre/city but in my opinion it would make much more sense as 1 worthy WHS rather than having 2 which in such a case seems counterproductive. 

The Jaipur city palace is worth visiting if only for a good view of Diwan-e-Khas, Peacock gate and the entrance gate of Rajendra Pol. If you were to visit only one museum here, make sure to visit the Albert Hall Museum also known as the Government Central Museum, which is Rajasthan's oldest museum and a fine example of Indo-Saracenic architecture. The main highlight inside apart from the architecture, believe it or not, is a far-from-home Egyptian mummy!

Another highlight was the Water Palace or Jal Mahal in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake. The palace and the lake around it were renovated and enlarged in the 18th century by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Amber. When I …

Keep reading 0 comments
First published: 20/02/19.

nan

Jaipur City, Rajasthan by Nan

Jaipur City, Rajasthan (Inscribed)

Jaipur City, Rajasthan by Nan

Most "cities" in India don't really have historic structures or buildings but are a sprawl of concrete buildings. And dirt and trash for that matter. Trust me: If you haven't been, you cannot imagine.

Jaipur is different in the sense that it really has a consistent historic core. You can take a walk through the town center and do site seeing. The city center is called Pink City due to the color of the houses. Pink is the color of hospitality in Jaipur and the city was painted in it in preparation for a visit by the Prince of Wales in 1876.

Jaipur itself is not that old. It was founded the 18th century when the Maharadscha moved his capital there. This explains a bit the consistency of the city center which was developed by an Indian architect, Vidyadhar Bhattacharya.

Apart from the Jantar Mantar, the Palace of the Wind (Hawa Mahal) is probably the most known building of Jaipur. While it does look pretty on photos it did not impress me much on entry. The state of preservation wasn't good. As was the case for most of the old town.

[Update July 2019] Looking at Jaipur as a consistent example of 18th-century Indian town planning and architecture, that is still fairly consistent, there is little doubt in my mind, that this deserved to be inscribed. With the Jantar Mantar already on the list, however, it begs to question why not go for a …

Keep reading 0 comments
First published: 20/07/93.

Els Slots

Jaipur City, Rajasthan

Jaipur City, Rajasthan (Inscribed)

Jaipur City, Rajasthan by Els Slots

The Walled City of Jaipur has (after some debate) received WH status this year. The city in Northern India already has 2 WHS within its borders: Jantar Mantar and Amer Fort (the latter as part of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan). The city authorities however still seemed to have longed for the recognition of its historic center in general. The core zone of the proposed WHS will be limited to the area within the old city walls – this leads to an exact location inscribed twice connection for Jantar Mantar, but not for Amer Fort which lies in a separate village within the municipality some 11km away.

I visited Jaipur in 1993, arriving by Pink City Express train from Delhi. The city was part of a whirlwind group tour across Northern India and Nepal and I think we stayed for 1 night only. My photo album of the trip shows that we covered the City Palace, Nahargarh Fort, the observatory, Amer Fort and a cinema. It would have been hard to have not seen the Hawa Mahal (the Pink Palace) as well, but I have no photos of this landmark left.

The Nahargarh Fort and cinema lie just outside of the walled city. This leaves the City Palace (dating from 1732) for me to describe. This was the seat of the Maharaja of Jaipur and thus a core element of the 18th century planned city that is to sustain the Outstanding Universal Value of the nominated site. It …

Keep reading 0 comments