Jaisalmer is often referred to as the golden city or the yellow city due to its yellow golden sand and the yellowish sandstone structures across the city including its crowned golden fort also called as Sonar Quila. Jaisalmer is famous for its amazing architecture style, most prominently for its Jharokhas. Jharokha is nothing but a overhanging enclosed balcony typical to Rajasthan architecture.
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| Exquisitely crafted jharokha, Jaisalmer Palace |
Jaisalmer is unique in its appearance than other cities in India, with stone sculptured havelis through the streets so narrow that it appears if the Jharokhas of the havelis on both sides are almost a foot step away. Almost all of these havelis are built with yellow sand stones with enormous effort put into the sculptured Jharokhas. It is because of this the city is sometimes referred to as city of Jharokhas.
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| A typical yellow sandstone sculptured window in Jaisalmer |
The medieval architecture of Jaisalmer is alive even in the modern times, with most of its new houses still being built in its medieval architectural style.
Jaisalmer Fort and Palace:
The most striking monument in Jaisalmer is its imposing 12th century fort seems like a sand castle standing a top of the dune when looked from a distance. This UNESCO world heritage site turns golden yellow during sunset, due to the fort built with yellow sandstone, and this amazing sight is not to be missed while you are in Jaisalmer. The night view is equally stunning when it is lit up after the sun goes down.
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| Fort gate, Jaisalmer |
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| Jaisalmer city view from of one of the heritage hotel room's jharokha, inside the golden fort |
We stayed at one of the heritage hotels inside the fort, and it feels royal to stay inside the world heritage site and have dinner served to your Jharokha out of our room with stunning views of the sunset and the city below.
Having spent the whole day inside the fort hotel it was day at leisure yet an unforgettable experience.
The next morning was a busy day with heritage walks inside and outside the fort and visiting popular heritage havelis. First in our list was the Jaisalmer fort palace, where we were expecting the palace like ambiance but it turned out to be like another medieval haveli. There are separate camera charges to click from mobile phone also, which we didnt liked. It takes about 30mins to 1hour to completely see the palace, as there was not much to offer we moved to our next attraction.
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| Dusherra chowk and the fort palace |
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| View of the fort from the fort palace |
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| Inside the fort palace |
Fort Jain Temple:
Just a 5min walk from the palace is the Jain temple, it has many marvelous sculptures to offer within its congested temple complex. Don't forget to buy the ticket for clicking pictures, it was worth it.
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| Yellow sandstone Jain temple complex inside the fort |
The yellow sandstone temple complex has a maze-like interconnection within its seven jain temples, built during the 15th and 16th centuries.
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| Yellowstone carving sculptures at the entrance |
The exquisitely sculptured columns at the entrance of the Chandraprabhu temple welcomes you and as you enter the temple, one would be amazed with its beautifully carved toranas and the exquisitely crafted sculptures of its domes. One could easily spend about an hour exploring the seven interconnecting temples.
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| Beautifully sculptured toranas inside the temple |
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| The sensational and exquisitely crafted sculptures of the central dome |
Apart from the temple and the palace one could walk around the heritage streets inside the fort to get a glimpse of medieval times, as the city has not changed much from its local flavour.
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| Laxminath ji temple, Fort |
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| Another interesting feature of Jaywalker city is this beautiful tradition depicting Ganesha on the wall paintings outside every house |
The views of the city from the fort is amazing with all the structures below look alike and mostly built with yellow sandstone.
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| City view from the fort |
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