Amer Fort, India

Leveraging local partnerships to equip India’s premier hill fort for thousands of daily visitors

Perched atop a forested hill outside India’s ‘Pink City’ of Jaipur, Amer Fort offers a breathtaking union of Hindu and Mughal architecture rendered in red sandstone and white marble. The second most visited site in India after the Taj Mahal, Amer Fort was added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in 2013, along with five other majestic forts across Rajasthan. Together these imposing citadels chart the rise of the Rajput princely states that flourished in this region from the 8th to the 18th centuries, each one representing a critical point in the evolution of a common Rajput-Mughal court architectural style.

Construction began on Amer Fort in 1592 as a palace and military installation for the maharaja of Jaipur yet the regal refuge equally served as backdrop for an elaborate courtly culture that supported scholarly learning, music and the arts. One can imagine that richly cultivated lifestyle in Sheesh Mahal, Hall of Mirrors, its walls an intricate mosaic of shimmering mirror shards and Belgian colored glass.

Amer Fort now attracts up to 5,000 local and international visitors per day. This puts enormous stress on the heritage site and requires intensive, ongoing conservation on the fortress and its environs. Global Heritage Fund has signed a memorandum of understanding with the State Government of Rajasthan and its Chief Minister to create a comprehensive framework for future conservation, maintenance and management.