Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds)

Hawa Mahal is Jaipur's most recognisable building — a five-storey pink sandstone facade of 953 small windows (jharokhas) that was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh so that the women of the royal household could observe street life and festivals without being seen. The building is essentially a screen — the facade is only one room deep in most places, with the windows creating a honeycomb pattern that catches the breeze (hawa means wind) and provided natural ventilation before air conditioning existed.

The facade, best viewed from the street below, is an exercise in architectural theatricality — the curved windows, projecting balconies, and the pyramid-like form create a building that looks like a pink beehive made of lace. The sandstone is the same pink that gives Jaipur its nickname (the 'Pink City'), painted salmon-pink in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales and maintained in that colour ever since.

The interior, accessible from the back (the entrance is on a side street behind the facade), is less impressive than the exterior but provides the perspective that the royal women would have had — looking down through the small windows at the bazaar below, seeing without being seen.