AWESOME ARCHITECTURE

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LAKE PALACE

Lake Palace (formally known as Jag Niwas) is a former summer palace of the royal dynasty of Mewar, now turned into a hotel. The Lake Palace is located on the island of Jag Niwas in Lake Pichola, Udaipur, India, and its natural foundation spans 4 acres (16,000 m2).

The historic Indian city of Udaipur is often called the 'Venice of the East', and its most famous building, the Lake Palace, has become a byword for exotic luxury around the world. Colin Bisset looks at the history behind this iconic piece of architectural brilliance.

When a Rajput royal family created their capital on the banks of an artificial lake in the 1550s, they couldn't have imagined that Udaipur would become a byword for exotic luxury throughout the world. The most famous building is the Lake Palace, built in 1743 for the young heir to the kingdom—whose father gave him one of two tiny islands in the lake. 

He set about creating a fantasy palace, covering every inch of the four acre island with a connected series of pavilions which seem to float on the surface of the lake. He was influenced by the purity of the Taj Mahal, which was built 100 years earlier, although the decoration in the Lake Palace is defiantly figurative rather than the complex patterns of Mughal design.

The palace faces the east so that it receives the protection of Surya, the sun god, and is naturally air-conditioned by the breezes that waft over the lake. That coolness is emphasised by the many pools and fountains that fill the courtyards, the whole ornate structure built in white marble. It's this material that gives the palace that sense of otherness, the milkiness of the stone seems to soften the intricate details of the arches and cupolas, a little like gel on a camera lens removes wrinkles. 

It makes the palace appear to have been carved from a single piece. Inside, rooms are connected by hidden walkways, some with peepholes so that the young Royals could spy on their guests and servants, and colour is introduced with glass and mirrors inlaid on the walls in patterns of birds or trees, framing dancing figures and Hindu gods, all enlivened by the dappled sunlight reflected from the water outside.

Why does a building like this touch us? It's surely more than a fascination with the schemes of the rich. Perhaps it feeds into a universal idea of paradise, prompted by the tales of the Arabian Nights, where courtyards are scented with orange blossom and jasmine and echo to the sound of splashing water.

One thing is certain: while the detail is important, it's the sense of the building as a whole that gives it iconic status. It needs the surrounding landscape to fully exploit its beauty and, like Venice, the dominant feature is water. Increasingly, though, the lake is choked with water hyacinth and litter and has, on occasion, even dried up altogether, leaving the Lake Palace marooned in a sea of mud. It's then that the importance of the water is appreciated. Without reflection, the building loses it magic. With water, the Lake Palace, now a luxury hotel, remains a place that touches all the senses.