In the ochre lanes of Shekhawati, Rajasthan, the Jaipuriya Haveli in Nawalgarh has been brought back to life as the Vivaana Museum Hotel. Built in 1925 by Seth Anandram Jaipuria, the haveli was almost lost to demolition before heritage conservationist Atul Khanna stepped in. “The Jaipuriya family had sold it to a builder set to demolish it, but I found it just in time and fell in love with its architecture,” he recalls.
The walls of the haveli are covered with faded frescoes, created not by trained artists but by local potters who taught themselves to paint. Their work is uneven at times, yet that imperfection gives the space its character. The frescoes tell stories from different worlds—Indian epics and Western landscapes, myth and everyday life—side by side. On the facade, a Rajasthani arched gateway supports a European baroque pediment, topped with a Lord Ganesha relief. “The traders who lived here were well-travelled, and their homes reflected that mix of influences,” Khanna explains. The pigments, once vivid, now mellow in blue and green, show figures frozen in moments both familiar and strange.
Though the Jaipuriya family lived here only briefly, the haveli served multiple functions over time—as a vault, office, and guest house. A courtyard, painted in soft teal, opens to the sky, while rose- and emerald-tinted windows scatter light across the walls, giving the frescoes a shifting, almost theatrical quality throughout the day. Majolica tiles from Japan and cast-iron Lakshmi grills from England were added during restoration, blending carefully with the old structure. Iron jaal corridors allow air and light to pass freely, a quiet reminder of the thoughtful planning of the past. Matching the original tiles proved one of the hardest challenges of the renovation.
The restaurant, Ambri, shows how the old spaces have been reused without erasing their history. Former office cubicles have been transformed into intimate seating areas, with interconnected doors enhancing the beauty of the frescoed walls, creating a sense of depth and continuity. The ground floor museum offers visitors a glimpse into the heritage of Shekhawati, connecting the building’s history with the region around it.
Inside, the frescoes continue their quiet dialogue between cultures. Draupadi’s vastraharan and Sita haran sit alongside European wedding scenes, a tennis game, and even Raja Ravi Varma’s Mohini on a Swing. One fresco scatters English letters into an indecipherable word, hinting at the playful curiosity of the painter. Each wall is a conversation between worlds, a moment of imagination captured in pigment and plaster.
“Restoration is about compromise,” Khanna reflects. “We could have added four more rooms, but we kept the museum instead. It gives the place a fuller story.” The haveli is no longer just a building; it is a space where the past continues to live, quietly but insistently, within the walls.
