Albert Hall Museum main gate

The story of Albert Hall Museum main gate

This is the main gate of the Albert Hall Museum, the state museum of Rajasthan and the oldest museum in the state.

The building behind it was designed by Samuel Swinton Jacob, assisted by Mir Tujumool Hoosein, and opened as a public museum in 1887. The story of the place is tied to changing plans: Maharaja Ram Singh initially wanted it to be a town hall, but his successor, Madho Singh II, decided it should become a museum for the art of Jaipur and made it part of the new Ram Niwas Garden. Its foundation stone was laid on 6 February 1876, during the visit of King Edward VII, then the Prince of Wales, and the museum was later named after him as Albert Edward.

What you can see here is an Indo-Saracenic building made of marble and stone, with outer walls painted with scenes from ancient civilizations. The upper part of the courtyard carries extracts from religious texts, including the Quran, the Bible, and Indian epics. Six colourful wall paintings show scenes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, copied from the 16th century manuscript of Razmnama by 19th century copyists.

Inside, the museum was once considered one of the best 19th-century museums for the variety of its collections. The founders collected the best examples of many crafts and sometimes even got some pieces manufactured, with Colonel Tomas H. Hendley responsible for curating the collection. The building was renovated in 2008 and reopened as one of the most advanced museums in India.

Today it is a State Protected Monument, so this gate marks not just an entrance, but the protected front of a museum that was designed to present Jaipur’s art and collections to the public.