Palace of Winds by lensnmatter licensed under the terms of the CC BY 2.0
This incredibly ornate building (called Hawa Mahal in Hindi) is actually mostly just a wall. This elaborate facade is situated at the edge of the City Palace.
It was built so that women in the royal household could watch the street festivals without being seen by the people below—in fact, it leads directly to the women’s chambers. Each room has a set of tiny windows fashioned into a kind of grid, making it difficult for anyone on the outside to see in.
The Palace of Winds’ five stories are fashioned from sandstone, narrowing as they rise to create a pyramid shape about 50 feet high.
The final interesting feature of this palace: its brilliant pinkish-orange hues, the prime example of Jaipur’s nickname, “The Pink City.”
