Umaid Bhawan Palace (), located in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, is one of the world's largest private residences. A part of the palace is managed by Taj Hotels. It is named after Maharaja Umaid Singh, grandfather of the present owner, Gaj Singh. The palace has 347 rooms and is the principal residence of the former Jodhpur royal family. A part of the palace is a museum.
The groundbreaking for the foundations of the building was carried out on 18 November 1929 by Maharaja Umaid Singh and the construction work was completed in 1943.
History
thumb|[[HAL Tejas|Tejas flying above Umaid Bhawan Palace]]
thumb|"The Making of Umaid Bhawan Palace"
The history of building the Umaid Bhawan Palace is linked to a curse by a saint who had said that a period of drought would follow the good rule of the Rathore Dynasty. Thus, after the end of the approximately 50-year reign of Pratap Singh, Jodhpur faced severe drought and famine in the 1920s for a period of three consecutive years. The farmers of the area, faced with this hardship, sought help of the then Maharaja, Umaid Singh, who was the 37th Rathore ruler of Marwar at Jodhpur. The Maharaja, in order to help the farmers, decided to build a lavish palace. He commissioned Henry Vaughan Lanchester as the architect to prepare the plans for the palace; Lanchester was a contemporary of Edwin Lutyens, who had planned the buildings of the New Delhi government complex. Lanchester patterned the Umaid Palace on the lines of the New Delhi building complex by adopting the theme of domes and columns. Occupation of the palace by the Maharaja came after its completion in 1943, and close to the period of Indian Independence. There was some criticism for embarking on an expensive project but it had served the main purpose of helping the citizens of Jodhpur to face the famine situation. When it opened in 1943 it was considered one of the largest royal residences in the world. after which the palace is also known, where no water supply was available nearby and hardly any vegetation grew as hill slopes were rocky. The building material required was not close by as sandstone quarries were at quite a distance. Since the Maharaja had the foresight to bring his project to fruition, he built a railway line to the quarry site to transport the building material. Donkeys were inducted to haul soil to the site. The sandstone transported by rail was dressed at the site into large blocks with interlocking joints so that they could be laid without the use of mortar.
The interior central dome sits above the sky blue inner dome. The inner vaulted dome is a major attraction in the palace which rises to in the interior part which is capped by an outer dome of height. The entry to the palace has decorations of the Coat of arms of the Rathore Royal family. The entry leads to the lobby which has polished black granite flooring. The lounge area has pink sandstone and marble floors.
Hotel
The hotel wing of the palace is run by the Taj Group of Hotels and is called the "Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace Jodhpur".
Museum
thumb|Inside the museum of Umaid Bhawan Palace
The museum has exhibits of stuffed leopards, a very large symbolic flag given to Maharaja Jaswant Singh by Queen Victoria in 1877, lighthouse shapes.