Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds)

Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, stands on Hawa Mahal Road beside Badi Choupad in the Old City of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh built it in 1799, and the design is credited to the architect Lal Chand Ustad. The five-storey pink and red sandstone facade is pierced by 953 small windows, called jharokhas, with latticed screens that let royal women watch street processions without being seen. The shape resembles a honeycomb or a crown, and the lattice also lets breezes pass through the building, which gives it its name. The building is only one room deep, so the experience is mainly about the facade, the narrow passages and the views. Inside, visitors enter from the rear side street, not the facade road, and pass through a courtyard with a small museum before climbing ramps, not stairs, to the upper floors. From the top levels the view runs across Siredeori Bazaar, the City Palace and the Jantar Mantar. The most photographed angle is from the street, and many visitors use cafes with rooftop terraces opposite the building to photograph the facade without crowds. Sunrise gives the warmest light on the east-facing front, and the street view is free at any hour. A visit to the interior takes 45 to 60 minutes. The interior opens at 9:00AM and is quietest early on weekdays; later in the morning tour buses arrive and the narrow upper corridors become congested. The building is a short walk from City Palace, so the two are often combined in a single morning. Traffic on Hawa Mahal Road is heavy, so photographers should watch for rickshaws and motorbikes.