Albert Hall Museum

The building

Light and colour on a building of marble and stone

Diwali is the festival of lights, with floors decorated in rangoli designs. Albert Hall stands in Ram Niwas Garden, outside the city wall and opposite New Gate. It is made of marble and stone, a fine example of Indo-Saracenic architecture, and its outer walls are painted with scenes from ancient civilizations.

The name

A town hall that became a museum for the art of Jaipur

The hall is named after King Edward VII, born Albert Edward, whose visit as Prince of Wales saw its foundation stone laid on 6 February 1876. Samuel Swinton Jacob designed it, and it opened as a public museum in 1887. Maharaja Ram Singh had wanted a town hall, but Madho Singh II decided it should be a museum.

The curator

Colonel Hendley built the collection and the idea of the guide

Colonel Tomas H. Hendley curated the collection, which grew from the industrial crafts he gathered for the Jaipur Exhibition of 1883. He introduced guides and demonstrators to conduct informed tours, an idea museums worldwide later adopted. Under princely rule, when purdah was widespread, every Friday was reserved for women visitors.

The walls

The courtyard walls carry epics and sacred texts

Diwali is linked to the day Rama returned to Ayodhya after defeating the demon king Ravana. The courtyard of Albert Hall has extracts from religious texts, such as the Quran, the Bible and Indian epics, inscribed on its walls. Six painted scenes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana are copied from the 16th century manuscript of Razmnama.

The collection

Thousands of crafts from Jaipur and far beyond

Hendley collected a repository of 19,000 objects, from arms and armour to pottery, carpets, jewellery and musical instruments. An Egyptian mummy is the main attraction of the museum. A 17th century Persian garden carpet is among its treasures, and the museum was renovated in 2008.

19,000Objects collected by Hendley.