Umaid Bhawan Palace is a palace located at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. It was originally called Chittar Palace during construction due to its location on Chittar Hill, the highest point in Jodhpur. The foundations of the building was laid on 18 November 1929 by Maharaja Umed Singh and was unfinished by 1944. Umaid Bhawan was one of the last royal constructions and India's last Palace, built to provide work and drought relief for the poor.
Built on the Chittar Hill in South Eastern area of the Jodhpur, the construction employed more than 5000 men for sixteen years. The building does not use mortar or cement to bind stones together. All of its pieces are carved stones joined together by a system of carved interlocking positive and negative pieces. Umaid Bhavan is designed in such a manner that it always retains the temperature at approx 23 degrees C. A specially constructed train line was used to transport these large blocks of stone. The Palace, when built, was the world's largest private residence, with 347 rooms. The building's prominent central dome is 110 feet high. The architect, H V Lanchester, designed the palace that depicted the Indo-Art-Deco style. The resident engineer for this project was Mr.Hiranand U. Bhatia. The interiors for the palace were designed in the art-deco style by Maples of London. However, in 1942 the ship transporting them was sunk by the Germans. As a result, the Maharaja employed the services of Stefan Norblin, a Polish interior designer. The building, however, maintained the traditions of medieval palaces and maintained a male section and a ladies section each with separate entrances.
The present owner is Gaj Singh. He has divided the Palace into three functional parts, one into a five-star hotel (in existence since 1972), the other is the residence of the royal family and the third has been opened to public where a small museum displays pictures, arms, swords, and other items relating to Jodhpur's royal heritage. The palace consumed one million square feet of the finest marble.
Ever since its opening in 1977, Umaid Bhawan has remained one of the top heritage hotels in India.
