The PALACE OF WINDS (Hawa Mahal) is situated in Jaipur, the capital of the Rajasthan State, in India.
It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Pratap Singh for the Royal family ladies.
This red and pink sandstone palace with its unique design and one thousand windows (in fact, 953) is facing the main street of the city. The intention was to allow the royal ladies to observe discretly the street life and watch the royal public ceremonies behind the window screens, without beeing seen as they were under strict rules of purdah (women could not be seen by men) and never appeared in public.