Gajner Palace

Gajner Palace is a lakeside palace complex in Bikaner district, built by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner as a hunting retreat in the days of the British Raj. The estate covers some 6,000 acres of the Thar Desert, and in 1922 it was linked by railway to the palace in Bikaner.

Guests over the years included the Prince of Wales and the viceroys Lord Elgin, Lord Irwin and Lord Mountbatten, and the imperial sand grouse shoots held here at Christmas were among the most sought-after invitations of the season. The architecture mixes Rajasthani, Jain, Mughal and European ideas, with domes of reddish stone, jharokha balconies, chhatris and jaali screens, as well as carved pillars, old wooden furniture and paintings.