This palace resembling the shape of inverted honeycomb structure was built in 1799 primarily to allow the royal ladies to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the street without being noticed by the onlookers. Due to the specific architecture of the palace and the uninterrupted views that it provided, the royal ladies could actually see the clear view of the street life without revealing them to the glare of public. In fact the windows of the palace were provided with designer lattice that not only allowed the birds' eye view of the street scenes but also helped to give a unique look to the entire building from the outside. But the main objective of these windows was to let the royal ladies enjoy the street scene without being noticed.
Who built it?
The credit of building this palace goes to Sawai Pratap Singh of Kachchwaha Rajput Clan. One of the most prominent architects of the era Lal Chand Ustad used best of his artistic skills and architectural excellence to conceptualize and plan the design of the palace.
What was the functional use of the palace?
There are as many as 953 windows that allowed the queens to enjoy the street view without being seen. In fact the customs and traditions of erstwhile Rajputs didn't allow the women to mingle with the local public freely and in case of royal women, even allowing the general public to view the face of princess or queen was out of question. But this secluded life stifled the queen's desires to enjoy the views of their beloved city, Jaipur that was then known as Rajputana. Hence, this palace facilitated them to get the unrestricted views of the street life without being seen by the general populace. The latticed windows of the palace not only helped them to enjoy the unrestricted views of the city life but also helped them to feel the luxuries of open environment as the 953 latticed windows of the palace allowed free inflow of air.
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