The Amber Fort and Palace (also spoken and spelled Amer instead of Amber) was perhaps the highlight of Jaipur. It sits on the hills above Jaipur and is the lowest of three forts along the same ridge of mountain. Above Amber Fort are Nahargarh Fort and Jaigarh Fort. Raja Man Singh began building Amber Fort in 1592 and work continued for 125 years. It was the capital of the Kachhawah Rajputs for centuries. It is made of red sandstone and white marble. Artistically it is a blend of Hindu and Mughal (Muslim) architecture. The Palace lies within the fort as back in those days, you couldn’t have a palace without a fort to protect it.

Amber Fort can be seen in the first photo. It doesn’t look that big here as we were across the (dry) lake and still quite a ways away from the fort. The fort has many gates, courtyards, gardens, temples, pools, apartments, and so on. We spent a couple of hours here, but it wasn’t nearly enough time to explore it all. The whole place has tunnels and hidden passageways and is a bit of a maze. Those were to conceal movement within the palace and to allow time to escape in case of an emergency. I found it very intriguing.

The Jaleb Chowk or main courtyard can be seen in the second photo. This was where they would parade a returning army and of course, a whole army would fit in this courtyard. They used elephants to shuttle tourist up the long incline to this point. You can see a few of the elephants in the courtyard. Music was played when we entered the courtyard which was how they announced someone’s arrival to the whole complex back in those days.

The third photo was the Ganesh Pol or palace gate. This lead to the private parts of the palace. It was elaborately carved and painted and also included lattice corridors above for the Queen to hear and see the more public courtyard (but not the main courtyard) below it. You can actually see a few people standing behind the lattice above the main entrance.

The first and third photos below are inside the Palace area while the second photo is just outside of the palace gate. The first photo is a courtyard inside the palace area. The high walls around this garden were to give protection to the family from wind and sandstorms plus some solitude and privacy from the rest of the fort. This photo probably only shows about half of the courtyard. You can also see another fort up the mountain ridge behind Amber fort. The fort above was originally the royal treasury but was later adapted for use primarily as water storage for Amber Fort.

The next photo is the Diwan-i-Am or Hall of Public Audience. This pavilion was located in the courtyard outside of the palace gate. This hall is marble, red sandstone, limestone, and alabaster panels with fine inlaid work. It was in a very pleasant setting in the courtyard. The purpose of this hall was so that common people could have an audience with the king and his court and make suggestions or requests. It was in the courtyard near the palace gate so that the Queen could look through the lattice and listen to the people and the king and keep up on what was going on during the meetings. The tradition was that the women were neither seen or heard.

The last photo is a close up of the Sheesh Mahal or Palace of Mirrors. This was located in the same courtyard with the gardens in the photo above. It was a good size structure. This palace was designed for light and romance. It is said that one single candle could light up the entire palace at night, so effective was the design and use of mirrors. Romance and keeping the women happy was a big part of the king’s responsibilities. Our guide said that a king might have a dozen marriages and that each bride would come with 100 women. That would give the king 1200 women or wives – for his pleasure. The pleasure part, I can understand. Keeping 1200 women happy, well that’s another story….

Vicky, above, is the one woman that I try to keep happy…