The famous City Palace

The famous City Palace is an intricate labyrinth of inner patios, courtyards and balconies in granite and marbles, connected by interspersed passageways and flight of stairs. Enter from a mammoth courtyard (Badi Pol) where you can park your car, through an prodigious gate (Tripolia Gate) embellished by eight carved marble arches, into the building that cater a tour across centuries. This is because the mansions have been added to by succedents of the royal clan in a process that continued into the 20th century, and have been integrated much later but still retain an symmetry of design. Under the connected arches between the two, the Mewar kings were weighed with gold and silver, which would then be bestowed to the indigent.

Enjoy the famous City Palace Attractions while crossing the Tripolia Gate, you enter a courtyard where elephant fights were staged until 1951, the year Mewar joined independent India. The oblong depressions on the western side of the courtyard were used to park pachyderms. Although the 20 elephant stables remain untouched, they are unoccupied today.

Most alcoves will astonish, as much for their craftsmanship as for the vista, but in particular look out for the Mor Chawk, the peacock square which gains its name from the vivid blue mosaic, composed of thousands of tiny colored-glass carrying images of a peacock that decorates its walls. Looks as if a divine gift, these decors really makes one feel to kiss those blessed hands responsible for such marvellous craftsmanship. There are rooms with mirrored walls, ivory doors, colored glass windows, and carved and inlaid marble balconies. However, the piece de resistance must be the tiny room (Kanch ki Burj) in which every inch of space, even the ceiling, is enveloped with brightly colored, minikin paintings of festivals, flowers, jungle scapes and dancing damsels.