Jaipur City

The fortified city of Jaipur was founded in 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh II. Jaipur was
established on the plain and built according to a grid plan interpreted in the
light of Vedic architecture. The streets feature continuous colonnaded businesses
that intersect in the centre, creating large public squares called chaupars.
Markets, stalls, residences and temples built along the main streets have uniform
facades. The city's urban planning shows an exchange of ideas from ancient Hindu
and modern Mughal as well as Western cultures. The grid plan is a model that
prevails in the West, while the organization of the different districts refers to
traditional Hindu concepts. It was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site on 6
May' 2019. The city of Jaipur is embellished with monuments like Amer Fort, Jaigarh
Fort, Birla Temple, Hawa Mahal, Albert Hall and many more. Jaipur is also called
the Pink City of India as, the city was painted pink to welcome HRH Albert Edward,
Prince of Wales in 1876.Many of the avenues still remain painted in pink, giving
Jaipur a distinctive appearance and the epithet Pink city.

History
Jaipur was founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II on November 18, 1727. Maharaja
Sawai Jai Singh II was a Kachwaha Rajput who ruled Jaipur from 1699-1743. Prior to
Jaipur, his capital was Amber which is 11 km away from Jaipur. With the increase of
population, the king felt the need to shift the capital city. Another reason to
shift the capital was the scarcity of water in Amber region. Jaipur is believed to
be the first planned city of India and also that the king took a lot of interest in
designing this city of victory. The was constructed after intense architectural
planning of the city. Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, a Brahmin scholar in Mathematics and
Science from Bengal, assisted Jai Singh to design the city’s architecture.
Vidyadhar referred to ancient Indian literature on astronomy, books of Ptolemy and
Euclid in order to help the king. The construction of the city started in 1727 and
it took around 4 years for the completion of the major palaces and roads.
Principles of Vastu Shastra were greatly followed while designing the city.Jaipur
city was divided into nine blocks two of which consisted of the state buildings and
palaces. The remaining seven blocks were allotted to the general public to live in.
From the security point of view, huge walls were constructed around the city along
with seven strong gates. It is believed that the architecture of the city was the
best at that time in the Indian subcontinent.In 1878, Prince of Wales visited
Jaipur city. The whole city was painted with Pink colour to welcome the prince.
Sincethen, the name “Pink City” came into existence. Continuing the trend and
keeping the charm of the historic era, all the state buildings and historical
places of Jaipur city are painted with Pink colour.

UNESCO Criteria for Selection and Recognition of a World Heritage Site

To make it onto the World Heritage List, the heritage site must at least fall under
one of the ten selection criteria for Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) in the
“Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention".
The World Heritage Site is further classified into 3 types of properties based on
the selection criteria from the Oustanding Universal Value (OUV) -
1. If a site meets any of the first 6 criteria for OUV, then it is
classified to be a Cultural property.
2. In case any of the last 4 criteria for the OUV are applicable, then it
is classified to be a Natural property.
3. But if a site accommodates 2 or more criterias, with minimum one from
first 6 criteria and last 4 criteria for OUV each, then it is classified to be a
Mixed property.

Cultural
• (i) To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
 • (ii) To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span
of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or
technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
• (iii) To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural
tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
• (iv) To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural
or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage (s)
in human history;
• (v) To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement,
land-use, or sea use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human
interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the
impact of irreversible change;
• (vi) To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living
traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of
outstanding universal significance (The Committee considers that this criterion
should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria

Natural
• (vii) To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional
natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
• (viii) To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's
history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in
the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
• (ix) To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going
ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of
terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants
and animals;
• (x) To contain the most important and significant natural habitats for
in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened
species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or
conservation.

Jaipur City Criteria for UNESCO World Heritage Site

Year of inscription: 2019
Property Type - Cultural
Criteria: (ii), (iv), (vi) from OUV

Monuments
Hawa Mahal
Hawa Mahal, also known as ‘Palace of Winds’, was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap
Singh in 1799 A.D. Ustad Lal Chand was the designer of the palace.The palace was
designed in the form of Lord Krishna’s crown. There are 953 small windows in the
palace, known as ‘Jharokhas’.The reason for the king to build this palace was to
let the royal ladies see the streets of the city and observe day-to-day life
without being seen by any outsider.

Amer Fort
Previously known as “Amber”,this place served as the capital for Kachwaha Rajputs.
The fort houses palaces, gardens, halls and temples which were built by Raja Man
Singh, Raja Jai Singh and Sawai Jai Singh. To reach the fort, there is a steep
way.It is a place of great tourist attraction wherein the tourists can hire
elephants to reach the top of the fort. There is a Shila Mata temple in the
premises of the Amer fort.The Idol of Shila Mata was brought from Jessore in East
Bengal (now in Bangladesh) by Raja Man Singh.The palace has a pillared hall which
is known as ‘Deewan-e-Aam’ and the ‘Ganesh Pole’. As we move further inside, there
is a garden known as ‘SukhNiwas’ and ‘Jas Mandir’. Jas Mandir is a fine example of
the mix of Mughal architecture and Rajput designs. Raja Man Singh had built the
older structures in the 16th century.

Jaigarh Fort
Jaigarh fort is located on the cape called ‘Cheel ka Teela’ on the Aravali hills.
The fort was constructed by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1726 A.D. It was built
with the vision of securing Amer Fort from enemy attacks and is also known as
‘Victory Fort’.The total length of Jaigarh fort is around 3 km from north to south
and has a width of around 1 km.It is one of the few military structures of Medieval
India.It houses royal residences, gardens, open and secured water reservoirs, a
silo, an arsenal, an all around arranged gun foundry, a few temples, a tall tower
and a monster mounted cannon – The Jai Ban - the biggest in the nation.

City Palace
One of the historic landmarks of the city, City Palace is situated right at the
center of the city and is made of grey-white marble stone.It was built by Maharaj
Sawai Jai Singh II between 1729 and 1732 A.D. The king built the outer walls of the
palace and his successors made the additions which continued till the 20th
century.City Palace includes the Chandra Mahal palace and the Mubarak Mahal palace.
At the entrance of the palace, there are two elephants made of marble that guard
the passageway. Chandra Mahal houses a museum which has a rare collection of
various types of Rajasthani dresses, Mughal armoury and Rajput weapons and swords
of different shapes and sizes.The museum also consists of an art gallery with a
collection of paintings, royal belongings, carpets and astronomical works in
Persian, Latin and Sanskrit, which were developed by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II.

Albert Hall
Albert Hall is the oldest museum of Rajasthan and is located in Jaipur city. The
Museum is located inside Ram NiwasBagh opposite to New Gate.It was designed by Sir
Samuel Swinton Jacob and was built by Maharaja Ram Singh and was opened for general
public in 1887. The museum is the finest example of Indo-Saracen architecture.

Galtaji
Around 10 km away from Jaipur city, Galtaji is a pilgrimage for Hindus in a village
called Khaniya-Balaji. There are a number of temples around Galtaji amidst the
hills which surround Jaipur city.There is a natural spring which emerges from the
top of the hill filling a number of sacred Ponds (Kunds) in which the pilgrim take
a holy bath.From the temple located at the hilltop, one can see the mesmerising
view of Jaipur city. It is said that Galtaji was named after a Saint “Galav”, who
used to live here and practice meditation and performed “Tapasya”.

Jantar Mantar
JantarMantar is one of Jai Singh's five striking observatories. Built with stone
and marble, its perplexing instruments whose settings and shapes are exactly and
logically outlined explain the medieval Indian Astronomy.The Ram Yantras utilised
for measuring heights are one-of-a-kind. This is the biggest of the five
observatories established by Sawai Jai Singh II in India. It has been recorded in
UNESCO world heritage sites.Major Yantras or instruments that one can find here
are: 'Dhruva', Small 'Samrat', 'Narivalya', The Observer's Seat, ‘Raj’,
'Unnathamsa',Small 'Kranti', 'Disha', 'Dakshina', Large 'Samrat', 'Rashivalayas',
'Jai Prakash', Small 'Smash', Large 'Slam Yantra',Small 'Smash', 'Diganta' and
Large ‘Kranti’.

Jal Mahal
One of the biggest tourist attractions JalMahal, also known as ‘Water Palace’, is a
palace situated in the middle of Man Sagar Lake.Maharaja Jai Singh II renovated the
place in the 18th century and utilised the palace as a hunting lodge.One can hire a
boat from the shore and visit the palace.Jal Mahal has beautifully decorated
hallways on the first floor. The palace also houses a “Chameli Bagh”.Across the
lake, one can find hills, ancient forts and temples.