AMER The City of Heritage

Amer one of the Rajaput kingdoms of the Rajasthan, located 11 kms from
Jaipur. A city also known as Town of Temples, a total of 360 temples. Amber is
an important tourist destination, Amer fort located on the hill top is the major
tourist spot. There are other various historical sites, some of them are well
known as the panna meena ki bawri and other remained unfocused such as the
sagar lake, cenetopes of the kachhawa etc.
The entire city has its own architecture, inspired by the Hindu style of
architecture long with the Mughal architecture. Some common features are like
the lotus pattern, dieties of Hindu god n goddess, floral patterns, Gardana in
cantilever structure etc. One of the interesting aspects is the small size of
windows, wall paintings of human figures, low rise residential and mixed use
buildings etc. Watch tower and the Chatriyas are the common structure at
various point of the Fort boundary wall.
The settlement pattern of the city is the very haphazardly developed.
Most of the buildings are for mixed use purpose, ground floors with retail shops
and houses on the upper floors. Informal activates along the roads are
developed. There are not separate educational zone. With the passes of time
temple are getting converted into school according to peoples needs. Some of
the schools had their gates facing the main road, which is not preferable. Blocks
along the main roads are mixed used and the residential areas are along the
internal roads.
The main and internal roads in the road layout of the city are in a
hierarchy, but still with not of sufficient width to support todays volume of
transportation. The internal roads are made of stones but not developed yet 20 th
century.
The drainage pattern of the city is very interesting. Small drains lines are
connected to the citys huge drainage channels. The main drain is also made of
red stone. Now, underground drainage layout is raid and that is under
construction.
The wall city of amer was also known for its military architecture. The
defence was created by natural resources such as hills, lakes etc.
Amer is famous for its historic structures. The are about 26 historic
structure such as The Amer Fort, The Jaigar Fort, Prachin Fort, Narsinghe Fort,
Shri Jagat Shiromani Temple ram bagh , step well or bawri etc.
Among all the places I have visited in the city, panna meena ki bawri that
is the step well was one of my favourite. The bawri or step well was used for
storage of water. At the bottom of the well, the air remains cooler than at the

surface, and was used as a community gathering place for locals during periods
of intense heat. One side of the well has a pavilion and resting room for the
royals.
Pritishma kakoty