Amber Fort India

Legendary

Constructed of red sandstone and marble, this beautiful fort sits high above Maota Lake.

Photo by Cristian Ungureanu

Hidden inside the Amber Fort is a secret underground tunnel stretching 1.5 kilometers through the Aravalli hills. It connects the palace to the neighboring Jaigarh Fort, and it was built for one purpose: if enemies breached the walls, the royal family could disappear underground and resurface inside a fortress so heavily armed it was considered nearly impregnable. Nobody outside the royal court was supposed to know it existed.

Construction began in 1592 when Raja Man Singh I, a trusted general of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, commissioned the fort above the town of Amer, 11 kilometers from modern Jaipur. Successive rulers expanded it over the next 150 years, blending the bold defensive style of Rajput architecture with the decorative refinement the Mughals brought from Persia and Central Asia. The result is a palace that looks like a fortress from the outside and a jewel box on the inside.

The fort sits high on a ridge above Maota Lake, whose still water reflects the sandstone walls above it. The lake supplied the palace with water and still mirrors the fort's silhouette for visitors arriving from below.

The most jaw-dropping room inside is the Sheesh Mahal, or Mirror Palace. Thousands of tiny convex mirrors cover the walls and ceiling, embedded with colored glass and foil. Light a single candle and the room explodes into a thousand reflections. Legend says it was built so the queen, who was not permitted to sleep in the open air, could watch a simulated night sky from inside the palace.

Stand in the Sheesh Mahal and hold up your phone light to see the mirrors ignite around you. Walk the four courtyards and look for the hand-carved marble jali screens, so finely cut they filter sunlight like lace. Stay for the evening light and sound show, which projects the fort's history across its walls in English and Hindi after dark.