About
To preserve, display and interpret the buildings and collections of national importance assembled by the Kachhwaha rulers of Amber and Jaipur across three centuries, and to open the City Palace's heritage to domestic and international visitors.
Jaipur royal trust custodian of the City Palace and the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum; patron of Jaipur's arts, crafts and cultural calendar.
The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust operates one of India's premier palace museums within the City Palace, Jaipur. The City Palace complex was originally conceived by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the founder of the city of Jaipur, between 1729 and 1732, and expanded by successive rulers of the Kachhwaha dynasty through the twentieth century. The palace was always more than a royal residence: it was a centre of artistic patronage, scholarship, and religious life, connecting the royal court to the people of Jaipur through festivals such as Gangaur and Teej. The formal museum was established in 1959, named for Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II, who oversaw the transition of the City Palace into a public institution. Today, the Museum occupies four of the palace's seven interconnected courtyards and encompasses multiple specialist galleries housed in historic buildings. The Textile Gallery in Mubarak Mahal displays royal costumes, Kashmiri pashmina shawls, Benaras silks, and ceremonial dress; the Armoury in the Maharani's Palace holds swords, battle axes, shields, muskets, and ceremonial weapons including a gift sword from Queen Victoria; and the Diwan-e-Khas (Sarvato Bhadra) displays the iconic Gangajalis, two of the largest silver objects in the world, used by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II to carry Ganga water to England. The seven-storeyed Chandra Mahal (Moon Palace) continues to serve as the private residence of the royal family. The Museum also maintains the royal cenotaphs and supports living heritage programmes including craft demonstrations by Jaipur artisans.
Visit & Access
Open 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM daily except Dhulandi (Holi). Wheelchair accessible; golf carts available at INR 150 per person. Nursing room available. Photography not permitted inside gallery rooms. Parking at Gate 2, Jaleb Chowk.
Founding & Leadership
The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust takes its name from Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II (1912-1970), the last ruling Maharaja of Jaipur State. He oversaw the transition of the City Palace into a public museum in 1959, making the royal collections accessible to the people of Jaipur and visitors from around the world. The City Palace complex itself was originally conceived and built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the founder of Jaipur, between 1729 and 1732, and expanded by successive Kachhwaha rulers through the twentieth century. The palace has always been a centre of royal patronage of the arts, manuscripts, and learning, as well as a site of festivals and religious ritual connecting the royal family to the people of Jaipur. Today, the Trust maintains the museum, the royal cenotaphs, and the conservation of the collections as a living heritage stewardship role.
Family Trust; Chairperson: Rajamata Padmini Devi; Secretary and Trustee: Princess Diya Kumari (also MP from Rajsamand constituency and former MLA from Sawai Madhopur)
Leadership & Trustees
Initiatives & Portfolio
Royal costumes, ceremonial dress, pashmina shawls, Benaras silks, and folk embroidery from three centuries of Jaipur court patronage. Temporarily closed for restoration from March 2026.
Royal weapons including swords, battle axes, shields, vintage muskets, ceremonial daggers, and a gift sword from Queen Victoria.
Open pavilion housing the Gangajalis — two enormous silver urns, considered among the largest silver objects in the world.
Public audience hall where the Maharaja would meet subjects and foreign dignitaries.
Seven-storeyed palace, private residence of the royal family; selected floors open to public through curated Experiences by Sawai Jaipur tours.
Live demonstrations by Jaipur artisans in crafts such as block printing, gemstone cutting, and blue pottery at the museum premises.
The Museum has published scholarly catalogues including 'Textiles and Garments at the Jaipur Court' by textile historian Rahul Jain (Padma Shri 2015).
Cultural Funding
Cultural verticals
Impact & Metrics
Credentials & Compliance
CSR-eligible · Not applicable
Not applicable — independent royal trust; not a CSR vehicle
The MSMS II Museum Trust's significance lies in its stewardship of one of the most complete surviving royal court collections in India, spanning textiles, arms, manuscripts, painting and photography commissioned and collected continuously by the Kachhwaha rulers of Jaipur across nearly three centuries, rather than a collection assembled retrospectively. Unlike museum trusts built around a single collecting vision, its holdings reflect an unbroken chain of royal patronage and record-keeping, evidenced by the scale of its Pothikhana manuscript archive. The Trust's continued operation by the reigning royal family, now spanning multiple generations from Rajamata Padmini Devi through Princess Diya Kumari to Maharaja Padmanabh Singh, situates it alongside Mehrangarh Museum Trust in Jodhpur as one of Rajasthan's two major family-led royal heritage institutions, both profiled in this Atlas, offering a meaningful comparison point in governance model and collection focus.
The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust stewards one of the most complete surviving royal court collections in India. Its significance lies not just in the scale of its holdings, which span three centuries of Kachhwaha patronage from Amber and Jaipur, but in the continuity of the institution: the City Palace has never been abandoned, repurposed, or subject to wholesale privatisation. It remains, simultaneously, an active royal residence, a living religious site, and a public museum. The Textile Gallery alone, now under restoration, holds some of the finest documented examples of Mughal-influenced Rajput court dress, Kashmiri pashmina, and Benaras silk in any Indian institution. The Gangajalis in the Diwan-e-Khas, at 14,000 troy ounces of silver each, are among the more spectacular artefacts in any palace museum in Asia. The Trust's curatorial output, including the scholarly publication on textiles by Padma Shri Rahul Jain, signals an institution capable of producing serious heritage scholarship alongside its public programme. Princess Diya Kumari's dual role as Secretary-Trustee and elected Member of Parliament for Rajsamand gives the institution a degree of political connectivity unusual for a private trust, and may have bearing on heritage policy in Rajasthan.