An escape tunnel connecting Amber Palace with Jaigarh Fort, that is said to date back to the 18th century, was reopened in Jaipur last Sunday. Believed to have been constructed to allow the royal family and others to flee from the palace to the security of the fort in the case of an attack, the secret tunnel was an intrinsic part of the design of the Amber Palace.

Inaugurated by Rajasthan’s Tourism Minister, Bina Kak, in the presence of Diya Kumari and Narendra Singh of the erstwhile royal family, the tunnel will be another attraction to draw tourists and history buffs to Jaipur, a city already rich in architectural and historical treasures. The 325 metre-long open-air tunnel was discovered during excavation over a year ago and was then the project to renovate and restore it was undertaken in public-private partnership mode between the Jaigarh Public Charitable Trust and the state government’s Archaeology and Museums Department.

One portion of the tunnel, from Janana Dyodi to Rang Mahal in Amber Palace, had been already open for tourists and now another portion, from Madho Singh Than near Rang Mahal (Amber) to Ganesh Pol in Jaigarh Fort, has also been made accessible. Also, golf carts will ply between Ganesh Pol to Awani Gate, the fort’s entry, to ease the trip to Jaigarh. However, this is just one half of the entire tunnel that has been excavated and work on the other half is planned soon. It’s also been discovered that this is just the main tunnel of an entire web of smaller passages that exists under Amber Fort.