The
City Palace is located in Pink City, Jaipur and has an imposing
blend of traditional Rajasthan and Mughal architecture. The vast
palace complex occupies one seventh of the walled city of Jaipur.
The City Palace was originally built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of the
Kachhwaha
clan of Rajputs. Later several additions were made to the palace
complex by many of his successors. The City Palace is the core of
the royal residences in Jaipur.
The complex is divided into
a series of courtyards, sprawling gardens and buildings. The main
places inside the complex are the Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal,
Badal Mahal and Shri Govind Devji Temple.
There is a
magnificent gateway with a grand door in brass opening to a stately
courtyard. In this courtyard lies the Diwan-I-Khas or 'Hall of
Private Audience'. It is an open hall with a double row of columns
with scalloped arches. On display are the two largest silver vessels
in the world which are also placed in the Guiness Book of World
Records. These vessels were used to carry water from the holy Ganges
by Madho Singh II on his journey to England. 242.7 kilograms of
silver was required to cast each vessel, which could contain 8182
gallons of water.
