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Rang

The Golden City

Jaisalmer

A fort and town built of yellow sandstone that glows like honey at sunset, deep in the Thar Desert.

Museum building inside Jaisalmer Fort. โ€“ Haveli, traditional townhouse or mansion with intricate ornate sandstone carvings. In Jaisalmer there are many elaborate havelis carved from yellow sandstone. Some havelis are man
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Jaisalmer is golden sandstone

Jaisalmer is built almost entirely of the yellow sandstone quarried around it. The fort, begun in 1156 by the Rajput ruler Rawal Jaisal, rises from the desert on a low hill. It is called Sonar Quila, the golden fort, because the stone turns from tawny brown by day to a honey gold as the sun goes down. People still live inside its walls. Below, merchant houses called havelis, such as the Patwon ki Haveli, have fronts carved so finely that the stone looks like lace. The same stone is used for new buildings, so the town keeps one colour. Against it, the red and saffron turbans and bright skirts of the desert stand out sharply.

Golden sandstone#D9A441Dune sand#E3C78FTurban red#C2362BSky blue#7DB3D9

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

Colours tied to Jaisalmer

GoldA strong yellow named for the precious metal and often linked with wealth and first place
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Jaisalmer" on Wikipedia. If you know Jaisalmer and we have it wrong, tell us.

More colour cities

All colour cities
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ The Blue CityJodhpurOld-city houses washed in blue crowd the foot of Mehrangarh Fort, on the edge of the Thar Desert.๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ The Pink CityJaipurThe walled city wears a dusty terracotta pink, first painted on for a royal visit in 1876 and kept ever since.๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ The White CityUdaipurWhite palaces and whitewashed houses stand around lakes in the Aravalli hills of southern Rajasthan.๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ City of saffron and lightVaranasiSaffron robes, marigold garlands and oil lamps colour the river steps of one of the oldest living cities.๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Town of Holi coloursVrindavanFor Holi the temple town of Krishna's childhood fills with clouds of pink, yellow and green powder.๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Birthplace of Krishna, home of HoliMathuraKrishna's birthplace celebrates Holi for more than a week, with processions, music and coloured powder.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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