Travel News
INDIA TOURS
See the intriguing medieval observatory at Jantar Mantar
One must-see destination on a tour of India is the Jantar Mantar, a unique collection of building-scale astronomical instruments dating back hundreds of years.
Located in the city of Jaipur, Jantar Mantar was built between 1727 and 1734 by King Jai Singh II. The attraction is comprised of 14 large geometric structures used for various astronomical purposes, including measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking the locations of stars as the planet orbits the sun and more.
Although there are four similar observatories scattered around India, Jantar Mantar is the largest, earning it a spot on the World Heritage List. In naming it a World Heritage Site, UNESCO lauded the attraction as "an expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period."
Each of the instruments at Jantar Mantar is vast in scale, which reportedly serves to increase their accuracy. The tallest structure, known as the Samrat Yantra, is 90 feet high and serves as an enormous sundial. Travelers can even climb some of the tools, as they have steps built into their tops.
Posted: May 26, 2011
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