Old Jaipur

This is the Old Jaipur, the ancient capital of Rajastan.

It is about 300 Kms south of Delhi, less than 10 Kms from the new Jaipur the modern capital.

This city was abandoned 300 years ago mainly because of the lack of water.

Now it is still inhabited by 20 000 people and there is a very beautiful palance that once was the residence of the Maraja.





This is one a garden inside the palace.

There are different buildings inside and each building has a different function.

Part of the building is the actual residence of the maraja's family, other is dedicated to the public functions and were open to anybody.
There is also a temple.




This part of the palace was the actual residence of the Maraja.

It is the highest part, on the top.

It is built to be as comfortable as possible and it even had running water and some primitive cooling system.

From the windows it has a very nice view of a park and an artificial lakes where elephants usually take bath.




This is the courtyard where the maraja and its courts could talk to the people. The maraja himself could appear from the window of his palace while his ministers sat on this porch you see on the left.
The people were standing on the courtyard around it.