The Architecture

A building carved by hand, where Jaipur’s past and present are held together in stone.

The Architecture

A building carved by hand, where Jaipur’s past and present are held together in stone.

[momh-arch] Sunlight through carved jharokha screens inside the museum

A FAÇADE CARVED BY HAND

The home of the Museum of Meenakari Heritage was designed by Studio Lotus, who took an existing structure on the site and reworked it in local Jodhpur red sandstone. Its façade was carved entirely by hand, the latticework drawing on three distinct chapters of the region’s history, Rajputana, Mughal, and Art Deco, set one beside the other. The colour is no accident either. The stone echoes the rose palette for which the Pink City is known, so that the building belongs to its street even as it stands apart from it.

[momh-arch] The sculptural spiral staircase winding through the building

A STAIRCASE AT THE HEART

Step inside and a sweeping sculptural staircase rises through the building, winding from one floor to the next. It is more than a way between levels. It draws the building’s different lives together, and stands as a quiet metaphor for the meeting of tradition and modernity that runs through everything the House of Shekhawat makes.

INSIDE THE GALLERIES

The museum occupies the ground floor. Within, the palette softens to ivory, maroon, and brown, warmed by teak and antique brass, an atmosphere made for looking slowly. Hand-painted ceilings and latticed jharokhas carry the spirit of old Jaipur overhead, their motifs answering the jewels in the cases below. The exhibition itself was shaped by Siddhartha Das Studio, who arranged each display to trace the craft from its earliest forms to the present, with light handled as carefully as the works it falls upon.

[momh-arch] Gallery lounge under a hand-painted ceiling

[momh-arch] An ornate carved mirror on the gallery stair landing

[momh-arch] A lit exhibit wall with framed archival works

[momh-arch] Hand-painted ceiling above a seating corner

[momh-arch] A chevron-patterned minaret exhibit in a lit case

[momh-arch] Framed miniatures and jewels on a gallery wall

[momh-arch] Painted ceiling above the winding stair

[momh-arch] A display table under focused gallery light

[momh-arch] A jewel case beside the staircase rail

[momh-arch] A dark gallery wall of lit displays

[momh-arch] The Renaissance Connection exhibit wall

[momh-arch] A corridor of lit jewel displays

[momh-arch] The museum’s red sandstone exterior at street level