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.[ref]

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.[ref]

UNESCO World Heritage Site

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. [ref]

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. [ref]

Jaipur City Criteria for UNESCO World Heritage Site

Year of inscription: 2019

Property Type - Cultural

Criteria: (ii), (iv), (vi) from OUV [ref]

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. [ref]

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.[ref]

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.[ref]

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.[ref]

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.[ref]

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”.[ref]

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’.[ref]

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.[ref]