Humayun's Tomb, Delhi 🇮🇳 India

Delhi is a city with an impressive and remarkable history. Standing as a witness to this interesting bygone era are the various monuments of Delhi. The commercial and business hub of India, Delhi has been witness to a tumultuous history of the uprising and fall of many empires. Work on the Jama Masjid Mosque was begun in 1650 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to complement his palace at the Red Fort. More than 5,000 workers toiled for six years to complete the largest mosque in India. Situated near the Red Fort in Delhi, Jama Masjid is built in red sandstone. The largest museum in New Delhi, the National Museum at Janpath, offers unique insight into the history and culture of India. It has a wide array of exhibits depicting 5,000 years of Indian history. The three floors of the museum offer splendid and priceless pieces of Indian art and sculpture. That have been arranged in galleries according to the period they belong to. The National Gandhi Museum, dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, has a long story behind its establishment. Work on this museum started in Mumbai soon after the assassination in 1948. Efforts were made to collect all the personal belongings of Mahatma Gandhi and anything that related to the life, philosophy and work of Gandhiji. Also known as Gandhi Memorial Museum of Delhi, it comprises five pavilions consisting of sculpture, photographs and paintings of Gandhiji. The history of the Satyagraha movement, along with the philosophy of Ahimsa, non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most fascinating personalities of the 20th century. The way in which he stood up against discrimination in South Africa and India using non-violence, combined with the theory he developed on his methods, make him one of the most important examples in the history of humanity. He's been the inspiration for many people, including Martin Luther King. The Gandhi Memorial stone is square in shape, made of black stone. His last word, Hey Ram, is inscribed on it. The mortal remains of Mahatma Gandhi were cremated on this spot, on the west bank of the river Yamuna. Parliament House accommodates the two Houses of Parliament. The House of the People and the Council of States. Meetings are held in the domed circular central hall and the three semicircular buildings. Enclosing the Parliament House estate is an attractive red sandstone wall or iron grill with iron gates. It was decided in the Delhi Durbar of 1911 that the capital of India would be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. Built as the Viceroyal Lodge, Delhi Rashtrapati Bhawan comprises four floors and 340 rooms. Now known as the President House of New Delhi, it spread over an area of approximately 60,960 square meters. It took 18 years to construct this building, and on the 18th year of its completion, India became independent. This solemn monument was built in memory of the 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in World War I. It was built in 1931, designed by Lutyens, and was originally called the All India War Memorial. The importance of Humayun's tomb in the evolution of Mughal architecture is great. It's the first of a long series of dynastic tombs and innovative in a number of ways, notably due to the fact that it introduced the garden tomb to the subcontinent. Humayun had travelled widely in the Islamic world, particularly in Persia and Central Asia. And brought back with him ideas that were applied by the architect of his tomb, under the direction of his widow, in this tomb. The garden tomb, of which Humayun's tomb is the first important example in India, is above all else the soul of the powerful Mughal dynasty, which unified most of the subcontinent. Exemplifying the formative stage of the Mughal structural style, Humayun's tomb stands as a landmark in the development of Mughal architecture, and also represents the earliest extant specimen of the Mughal scheme of the garden tomb, with causeways and channels. It's a well-developed specimen of the double-domed elevation, with kiosks on a grand scale. This building tradition, culminated in the Taj Mahal, constructed a century later. Despite being the first standardised example of this style, Humayun's tomb is an architectural achievement of the highest order. The tomb of Humayun, second Mughal emperor of India, was built by his widow, Bigha Begum, in 1569-1570, 14 years after his death, at a cost of 1.5 million rupees. The architect was Mirakmeet Zagia. It was later used for the burial of various members of the ruling family, and contains some 150 graves. It's aptly been described as the necropolis of the Mughal dynasty. The tomb itself is in the centre of a large garden, laid out in charbag, fourfold style, with pools joined by channels. The main entrance is on the south side, and there's another entrance on the west side. A pavilion and a bath are located in the centre of the eastern and northern walls, respectively. The mausoleum itself is on a high, wide terraced platform, with small arched cells along the sides. In plan, it's an irregular octagon, with four long and four short sides. It's surmounted by a 42.5 metre high double dome, clad with marble, flanked by decorative pillared kiosks called chatris. The vaulted chambers contain sarcophagi that were added later. The sex of each occupant is marked by a simple carved symbol. A box of writing instruments indicates a male, and a writing slate indicates a female. The sarcophagi are not otherwise inscribed, but among them are known to be those containing the wives of Humayun, and several later Mughal emperors and princes. The interior is a large octagonal chamber, with vaulted roof compartments, interconnected by galleries or corridors. This octagonal plan is repeated on the second storey. The structure is of dressed stone, clad in red sandstone, with white and black inlaid marble borders. The sarcophagus of Humayun is found in the central dome chamber, the head pointing south and facing east, according to Islamic practice. Although the architect of the tomb was imported from Persia, it's been observed that the distinctly Indian aspects of the tomb, such as the Hindu chatris, the domed pavilions that surround the central dome, set Humayun's tomb firmly in the Indo-Islamic tradition that was already emerging at the time. Many of the tomb's basic elements, such as the octagonal plans and high iwans, are derived from earlier tombs built for Delhi sultans. The unprecedented scale and grandeur of the monument, however, are aspects that were to define much of subsequent Mughal tomb building, and are among the similarities commonly cited between Humayun's tomb and the Taj Mahal in Agra. During the British period, the tomb was maintained by the Public Works Department, the Archaeological Survey of India, taking over responsibility in 1945. Various conservation works have been carried out since that time, including the restoration and stabilisation of the masonry of the southern and eastern walls, and the laying out of the lawns and gardens around the tomb. As with all monuments in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, there's a regular annual monitoring and maintenance programme, combined with a rolling programme of special restoration projects. Islamic rule in India also saw the introduction of many new elements in the building style. This was very much distinct from the already prevailing building style adopted in the construction of temples and other secular architecture. The main element in Islamic architecture is the introduction of arches and beams, the right combination of the red sandstone building medium with the white marble, the latter used as large inlays, exhibits the maturity of this style. This kind of combination of red sandstone and white marble in the tombs could be invariably seen in the architecture of Delhi Sultanates in the 14th century AD. The different religious beliefs are also reflected in the mode of construction and architectural styles. The Islamic style also incorporated many elements from the traditional Indian style and a compound style emanated. The introduction of decorative brackets, balconies and specific decorations in the architecture is an example in this regard. Tomb architecture is also another feature of Islamic architecture as the practice of the burial of the dead is adopted. The general pattern of tomb architecture consisted of a domed chamber, the hudra, a cenotaph in its centre with a mihrab on the western wall and the real grave in the underground chamber. To this general tomb architecture, the Mughals added a new dimension by introducing gardens all around the tomb. The garden complex is divided mainly into four compartments which are further subdivided into many square parts with causeways and water channels and water pavilions at regular intervals. The Iza Khan complex is a walled area adjacent to Humayun's tomb and is the resting place of Iza Khan Niyazi, a noble of influence at the court of Sher Shansuri. A mosque and an octagonal tomb built in the sur style are enclosed in Iza Khan's walled complex. The Humayun tomb complex also houses many other prominent buildings which are examples of architecture of the period preceding and succeeding Humayun. The brilliant and innovative design introduced many new features which were to become intrinsic to the repertoire of Mughal funerary architecture and its apotheosis in the Taj Mahal.