THE ARCHES OF JAIPUR

One of my outstanding memories of Jaipur and the surrounding area, is the beauty of all the different arches.  

You can see from the picture below, that the gates around the city centre were quite elaborately decorated.

Inside the Amber Fort.  These archways are quite plain in construction, but are decorated with mirrors.  They show how the passage of light passes through the building. 

These arches in the Amber Fort are quite austere by comparison to the fort's other arches.  They are so spare and elegant.

What a shame that people felt the need to add graffiti to the walls of this arched recess in the Madhavendra Palace.

My favourite arches, were found in the City Palace (Mubarak Mahal).  There was such a wide variety of decoration to be found there.

One courtyard contained a wealth of stunning arches.  Clearly others felt the same, as the jockeying for prime camera positions were fierce!  This arch was so tactile, I wanted to run my hands over the waves.

Each of the doorways in the courtyard were different.  This one looks as though a giant chrysanthemum is growing from the door top.  Again, a very tactile piece of work.  You can also see the top of the heavy door.  I suppose it is brass.  Anyway, you can see if you click on the picture, just how ornate the door is too.

My favourite arch was this one.  We entered through here, so I didn't initially see the wonderful peacocks until I had walked around the courtyard a bit.

This arch didn't have the tactile quality of the other arches, but the peacocks jutting out of the wall were such a wonderful surprise.  

 The arches on the roof of the Palace of Winds (Hawa Mahal).