Graffiti News
Amber Fort murals: science to undo botched repairs
The Amber Fort murals near Jaipur are getting a forensic-style restoration, with conservators photographing the walls under infrared and ultraviolet light and testing pigments before they clean any painting in full. According to ThePrint, the work is meant to undo damage left by earlier repairs in 2008 and 2017, which were carried out by private contractors without scientific methods.
The project is led by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) with the Amber Development and Management Authority (ADMA) and Rajasthan's state archaeology department. Rakesh Chholak, fort superintendent with Rajasthan's Department of Archaeology and Museums, told ThePrint the 2.5-year project is estimated to cost Rs 2.32 crore. One crore is 10 million, so that is 23.2 million rupees.
Earlier repairs made the Amber Fort murals worse
The murals need rescuing partly because of the last attempts to rescue them. Water seepage, dampness and neglect have yellowed the painted surfaces and made layers peel off the walls, and the materials and colours used in 2008 and 2017 are now harming the wall surface. Kirtipal Singh Parmar, the IGNCA project manager for the conservation work, told ThePrint that those jobs went to private contractors and were not done scientifically. An ADMA official said the contractors' material was not up to standard and that the authority does not want to repeat that mistake.
ThePrint places this within a wider pattern in India. It cites the odd shades of white and blue applied to Quli Khan's tomb in Delhi's Mehrauli Archaeological Park and the damaging use of cement at the Chhota Imambara in Lucknow.
The Bhojanshala holds paintings of four sacred cities
The most striking murals sit in the Bhojanshala, the royal dining hall, behind a locked door. Its five rooms are covered with paintings of Ayodhya, Kashi, Mathura and Vrindavan in muted reds, yellows and other natural pigments. They were made with the traditional Araish technique, in which pigments are applied to wet plaster. Parmar said the paintings were placed in a dining hall to keep a sattvic, or pure, atmosphere during meals.
One mural shows the Samudra Manthan: gods and asuras pull at opposite ends of a giant serpent coiled around a mountain to churn the cosmic ocean, while Vishnu, in the form of a tortoise, supports Mount Mandara on his back. The hall also holds unfinished panels of the 24 avatars of Vishnu, which let conservators study how the artists planned the sequence of religious images.
The Bhojanshala dates to the 16th-century reign of Raja Man Singh I, but its murals reflect later Kachwaha rulers. Under Sawai Jai Singh II, Vaishnava themes and mythological narratives became prominent in the palace's decoration. At the Ganesh Pol gateway, hand-painted flowers, vines and leaves run across arches, pillars and entryways, showing the exchange between Rajput and Mughal traditions, including the Mughal interest in gardens and the natural world.
Scientific imaging comes before any cleaning
The team began work at Amber Fort in June by reading old conservation records. It then used multispectral imaging (MSI) for the first time, photographing the murals in daylight and under infrared and ultraviolet light. Parmar said the images revealed extensive areas of earlier retouching. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis then identified the chemical composition of the pigments and binding materials, which determines how far each painting can be cleaned without disturbing the original layers.
Cleaning happens in small test patches, first with distilled water and, where needed, very low concentrations of ethanol and acetone. On one floral motif, a dull yellow area gave way to original reds and blues after treatment. Team member Shikha Shekhawat said the work began with condition mapping and that the damage comes from weather, seepage and retouching. Neha Sharma, another team member, said a test patch helps identify the original surface and the type of chemicals used over it.
Seepage must be fixed before the paintings
Cleaning alone will not last if water keeps entering the walls. The team plans to use ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to find where moisture gets into the structure. Parmar said leakage in old heritage buildings damages painted surfaces and that the root cause has to be addressed. Chholak said there is no sense in working on the paintings before the seepage is fixed.
The condition of the fort has drawn more attention since August 2025, when heavy rain brought down a section of wall near Rambagh. Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari inspected the site and directed officials to begin repairs and safety work immediately. According to Chholak, conservation work picked up after her visit.
Budget, team and next steps
The Rs 2.32 crore mural budget sits inside a larger Rs 50 crore (500 million rupees) conservation plan for Amer, about 11 km from Jaipur. By comparison, Rs 32 lakh (3.2 million rupees; one lakh is 100,000) is planned for the Sheesh Mahal and Rs 1.61 crore (16.1 million rupees) for the Man Singh Mahal. The first phase covers four locations: Singh Pol, Ganesh Pol, Man Singh Palace and the Bhojanshala. Parmar's seven-member team includes archivists, artists and conservators.
After three months, the team prepared a scientific report on its preliminary investigations and test patches. Because Amber Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, IGNCA and the state archaeology department will set up an expert committee within a month to decide how far intervention can go. The fort receives around 2 million visitors a year, and the team will keep working through the winter crowds. If the approach works, Chholak said, the Rang Mahal could be next.
What the Amber project means for people who follow murals
For anyone who follows wall art, the Amber Fort story is a reminder that a mural is part of the building it is painted on. When plaster gets wet, the image suffers with it, and a careless repair can do more harm than the years of neglect it was meant to fix. The IGNCA method of documenting first and cleaning small areas afterwards shows how much of a wall painting's history lives in its layers, including earlier mistakes. Conservation architect Ratish Nanda said in a lecture this year: “Conservation is not just about fixing a building but understanding the building.” The same logic applies to any painted wall, from palace halls to city streets. You can browse murals and street art on the Wallscape map.