A tour of Umaid Bhawan Palace with 24 stunning pictures

Entry view of Umaid Bhawan Palace

Now to break this palace in three parts, just bring your eyes on the left-hand side gate where few people are standing. That’s the museum.

The two big pillars with four small ones in the middle is the entry point of the hotel. This second part of the palace is a luxury hotel managed by Taj Group and one night here starts from INR 60,000 to INR 250,000.

The third part of UBP is the residence of the current Maharaja of Jodhpur. Mr Gaj Singh II and he own this whole palace which is spread across 26 acres. So with the INR 30 ticket, I entered the part 1 – Museum and here is a close look of its entry gate.

Entry of Umaid Bhawan Palace Museum

Now before you start to look at the pictures of some collectable items which is presented in this palace, you must know that Umaid Bhawan Palace was not just built to show off. Its has been constructed to provide employment to 2000-3000 local people from Jodhpur who were devastated by the famine of 1930-40.

A short historical fact on Umaid Bhawan Palace.

In the 1930-40 Jodhpur faced some of its worst famine where almost all the farms, plantation was destroyed. So Maharaja Umaid Singh, grandfather of Gaj Singh II came out with an idea to provide employment to the locals.

Work started at UBP in 1929, and Umaid Singh also made sure that the work on his palace continue at a slow pace as it will make sure that the locals get employment for years. The palace took 14 years to complete, and in 1943, Umaid Bhawan Palace became the world’s largest private residence in the world. Even today it is rated as the second biggest private home.

So, this is a brief history lesson I have for you and below I have all the images of the collection which I saw in the museum.

Stuffed Leopards (real stuff) and that me in the shadows :)

All the above pictures are from the first hall of the museum. From here I walked from four lobby where I found a collection of glassware & glass covered rooms. Have a look.

2nd rooms with amazing collectibles

After this, there is a long open hallway where there are three rooms on the left-hand side with a collection of pictures, paintings, plane models, ship models and my favourite loin watch. Have a look.

Nice statue in the lobby

And with this, the walk of the museum is finished. I head back to the same entry gate, but the tour not done yet.

Just 20 meters from the ticket counter (right-hand side), next to a garden there is a collection of more than a dozen vintage cars. Sadly they have been kept in a room, covered with a glass & because of that I wasn’t able to get a clear shot. But if you are planning visit Umaid Bhawan Palace, this is an exceptional collection to watch.