Sheesh Mahal, Amber Fort

The story of Sheesh Mahal, Amber Fort

You are standing in the Sheesh Mahal, the “Mirror Palace,” one of the most famous parts of Amber Fort. Its defining feature is right in the name: the walls and ceilings are inlaid with thousands of tiny mirror pieces, so the room was made to transform even very little light into a shimmering effect.

Sheesh Mahal is part of Amer Palace, which Britannica describes as a great example of Rajput architecture, with some Mughal influence. The wider palace complex is built of red sandstone and marble and is laid out on four levels, each with a courtyard. The Sheesh Mahal sits within that larger royal setting, alongside the Diwan-e-Aam, the Diwan-e-Khas, and the Sukh Niwas. In practical terms, this was a palace built for the Rajput Maharajas and their families, not a separate monument on its own.

The palace complex was built in 1592, and Britannica says the original Amber Fort was built by Raja Man Singh. Later, Jai Singh I expanded it in the early 1600's, and improvements and additions continued under successive rulers for the next 150 years. That long period of change matters here: what you see is not the work of a single moment, but a royal complex that was adapted as the Kachwahas’ power continued, until the capital shifted to Jaipur during the time of Sawai Jai Singh II, in 1727.

Inside the fort, the movement from one courtyard to another tells you how the palace was used. The main entry is through the Suraj Pol, or Sun Gate, which leads into the first courtyard. That courtyard was where armies held victory parades with their war bounty on return from battles, watched by royal women through latticed windows. Jaleb Chowk, the first courtyard, was used for military assembly and parades, and a stairway leads from there into the main palace grounds. At the entrance to the right of those stairs is the Sila Devi temple, where the Rajput Maharajas worshipped starting with Maharaja Mansingh in the 16th century until the 1980s, when the animal sacrifice ritual was stopped.

The Sheesh Mahal itself was built for the imperial family, and its mirrorwork is the thing to look for now. The practical effect of those mirrors is well known: a single lit candle can be reflected many times across the hall. Even without special lighting, the surface decoration is what makes the room memorable from close up.

What surrounds you today is also part of a much larger protected site. Amber Fort is part of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 2013, and it is also a State Protected Monument. The fort complex covers 30 hectare. The town of Amer, which serves as the entry point to the palace, is listed by the World Monuments Fund as one of the 100 endangered sites in the world, and conservation funding has been provided by the Robert Wilson Challenge Grant.

If you want one practical detail, the site opens every day from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. As you look around, notice how the palace’s mirrored interior belongs to a much larger fortified residence: a royal complex of courtyards, gates, stairways, and audience halls, all tied together inside Amber Fort.