Umaid Bhawan Palace is the largest private royal residence built anywhere in the 20th century — and the last great palace of the Indian princely era. Maharaja Umaid Singh commissioned it in 1929 partly to honour the centenary of Jodhpur's relations with the British Crown and partly, more practically, as a famine-relief employment scheme during a regional drought.

Henry Vaughan Lanchester designed it in the Indo-Saracenic style — the same architect who designed the Council House in London. Construction took 14 years (1929-1943), employed 3,000 workers, and produced a palace of 347 rooms across 26 acres, crowned by a 33-metre dome. The hill it sits on (Chittar Hill) was selected partly for the views across Mehrangarh Fort to the Blue City.

Today the palace is divided into three. The Jodhpur royal family — Maharaja Gaj Singh II — still occupies a residential wing. The Taj group runs a luxury hotel in another wing (regularly listed among the world's best). A museum covers the third — the construction story, the royal collection, and the magnificent original drawing rooms.

MyTripMyTravel includes the museum on the Jodhpur heritage day; for travellers wanting the staying-in-a-palace experience, the Taj Umaid Bhawan is among our top luxury recommendations in Rajasthan.