Amer Fort, A Marvel of Medieval Architecture.
Recently I was in Jaipur with bunch of friends. We had a whole day left for visiting this wonderful tourist place. So, we decided to explore the heritage of Pink city. No doubt there are various beautiful places to see in this royal city, but the visit to Amer fort left a lasting impression on my memories. Being from Delhi I usually don’t like to visit ancient architectural places, as most of them are either not well-preserved or are the meeting point of couples. But, experience of Amer fort was enlightening. When you visit this impressive fort located on Aravalli range of hills, you just can’t stop thinking how could such construction be possible so many decades before.
The scenes from movies like “Joda Akbar”,Mughal-e-Azam” and “Veer” that I considered were from artificial sets, was live in front of me.
The view of huge and magnificent fort behind the lake( Maota Lake)) from highway is superb. Struggling to climb the wide and never-ending staircase, our discussion was spinning on the immense effort and dexterity of the workers, designing skill of architectures, the engineering, the skills of artists and the opulence of Indian kings of those days.
Located 11 km from Jaipur,this fort is constructed by Raja Man Singh and completed by Sawai Jai Singh . The whole fort is divided into four main sections, each having a courtyard. It is constructed from white marble, pale yellow and pink sandstone.
The First courtyard is the main entrance to fort. Here Sila Devi temple is is located. Then, comes the second courtyard which houses Diwan-i-Aam, the hall of public audience, consisting of 27 colonnades The third courtyard is huge one. It begins with Ganesh Gate and leads to the private palace of the Maharajas, the private quarters of the royal family and Diwan-i-Khaas (or the hall of private audience). Suhag Mandir, is located above it. From here the royal women watched the proceedings held in Diwan-i-aam.
The Jai Mandir (Hall of Victory) and Sukh Niwas(Hall of Pleasure) are other beautiful constructions to see here. Fourth courtyard, the last one includes the Zenana region of the palace. Here, queens resided with their mistress and female attendants. The view of surrounding from the top of fort is scenic, giving you a feel of pride, grandeur and victory.
At the 37th session(2013) of the World Heritage Committee , Amer Fort of Rajasthan (along with five other), was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a lovely experience to visit this grand heritage site.