Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / India / Jodhpur / Umaid Bhawan Palace
Umaid Bhawan Palace
Jodhpur, India · Taj Hotels · Grand Luxury
Commissioned in 1929 by Maharaja Umaid Singh as a famine-relief measure, employing 2,000 to 3,000 workers for 15 years, Umaid Bhawan Palace was designed by Edwardian architect Henry Lanchester, a contemporary of Edwin Lutyens, as a 347-room Indo-Deco sandstone monument on Jodhpur's Chittar Hill. One of the world's largest private residences, it remains the home of Maharaja Gaj Singh II; Taj Hotels operates 71 rooms and suites within the palace, sharing the building with a royal museum.
- 71 rooms
- Opened 1972
- Neighborhood: RAI KA BAGH
- Architect: Henry Vaughan Lanchester
- Interiors: Stefan Norblin (murals)
About Umaid Bhawan Palace
- The palace was built primarily as famine relief: Maharaja Umaid Singh commissioned it in 1929 to provide 15 years of continuous employment to drought-stricken farmers, with 2,000 to 3,000 workers engaged at any one time at a total cost of approximately Rs 9.45 million.
- Architect Henry Lanchester drew inspiration not from Mughal precedents but from Hindu mountain-temple palaces, including Angkor Wat, giving the building its distinctive domed, column-driven profile that diverges sharply from most Rajasthani palace architecture.
- The interiors were designed by Maples of London, but the shipment carrying all the furnishings was sunk by German forces in 1942, meaning the completed palace was finished with substitute furnishings, the original Maples scheme was never installed.
- At 347 rooms, Umaid Bhawan Palace is one of the largest private residences in the world, yet Taj Hotels operates only 71 rooms and suites within it, the remainder serve as the royal family's home and a museum of 20th-century Jodhpur royal history.
- The palace's central cupola rises 105 feet (32 m) and was designed under Renaissance influence, while the surrounding towers draw from Rajput tradition, the two idioms sitting in deliberate tension within a single building.
History
Umaid Bhawan Palace crowns Chittar Hill in Jodhpur, India, and is one of the world's largest private residences. Its foundation stone was laid on 18 November 1929 by Maharaja Umaid Singh, and construction — conceived partly as a famine-relief public-works project employing thousands of workers over roughly fifteen years — was completed in 1943. Designed by the British architect Henry Vaughan Lanchester, a contemporary of Edwin Lutyens, the palace blends Indo-Deco and Beaux-Arts styles beneath a soaring central dome, built from Chittar sandstone, Makrana marble and Burmese teak, with murals by the Polish artist Stefan Norblin.
Maharaja Gaj Singh II converted part of the palace into a hotel around 1971-1972, and since 2005 the hotel wing has been managed by Taj Hotels. The property, which remains partly a royal residence and museum, has been repeatedly celebrated among the world's finest hotels, including being voted the world's best hotel by Tripadvisor travellers in 2016.
The setting
10 km from Mandore Garden.
Restaurants and bars
- Risala — Restaurant · Fine dining
- The Hoot at Royal Marwar Club — Restaurant · Vegetarian
Amenities
- Spa
- Indoor pool
- Hot tub
- Fitness center
- Yoga
Awards
- Rajasthan's Leading Palace Hotel 2025 (World Travel Awards) (2025)
- Gallivanter's Guide Hotel of the Year (2024)
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