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Red
Fort
The magnificent Red Fort
or Lal Qila was built by the emperor Shah
Jahan ad is a part of the walled city of
Shahjahanabad. Within its fortifications
are exquisite palaces, a finely proportioned
mosque the Moti Masjid or Pearl Mosque,
the Diwan-i -Am or hall of public audience
and the finely ornamented Diwan-Khas or
hall pouf private audience, where the Mughal
emperors held court seated o the bejeweled
golden Peacock Throe.
Jama
Masjid
The
great mosque of Old Delhi is both 1 largest
in India and the final architecture extravagance of Shah
Jahan. Commences 1644, the mosque was not
completed 1658. It has three great gateways,
four an towers and two minarets standing
40 met high and constructed of alternating
verity strips of red sandstone and white
marble.
Broad
flights of steps lead up to the imposing
gateways. The eastern gateway was originally
only opened for the emperor, and now only
open on Fridays and Musleem festival days.
The general public can enter either the
north or south gate Shoes should be
removed and those people considered unsuitably
dressed (bare legs for either men or women)
can hire robes at the Northgate. The
courtyard of the mosque has a capacity of
25,000 people. For it's possible climb the
southern minaret, and the views all directions
arc superb-Old Delhi, the Red Fort and the
polluting factories beyond it across the
river, and New Delhi to the south. You can
also see one of the features that the architect
Lutyens incorporated into his design of
New Delhi - the Jama Masjid, Connaught Place
and Sansad Bhavan (Par-liament House) are
in a direct line. There's also a fine view
of the Red port from the east side of the
mosque.
Feroz shah Kotla
Erected
by Feroz Shah Tughlaq in 1354, the ruins
of Ferozabad, the fifth city of Delhi can
be found at Feroz Shah Kotla, Just off Bahadur
Shah Zafur Marg between the old and new
Delhi's. In the frortress-places is a 13-metre-high
sadstone Ashoka pillar inscribed with Ashoa's
edicts The remains of an old mosque and
a fine well can also be seen in the area,
but most of the ruins of Ferozabad were
used for the construction of later cities.
Rajghat
North-east
of Feroz Shah Kotla, on the banks of the
Yamuna, a simple square platform of black
marble marks of the spot where Mahatma Gandhi
was cremated following his assassination
in 1948. A commemorative ceremony takes
place each Friday, the day he was killed.
The Raj Ghat area is now a beautiful park
complete with labeled trees planted by a
mixed bag of notables including Queen Eliabeth
II, Gough Whitlam Dwight Eisenhower and
Ho Chi Minn !
India
Gate
This 42 meter high stone
arch of triumph stands at the eastern end
of the Rajpath. It bears the name of 90,
000 Indian Army soldiers who died in the
campaigns of WWI the North-West Frontier
operations of the same time and the 1919
Fagan fiasco.
Jantar
Mantar
Only a short stroll
down Sansad Marg from Connaught Place, this
strange collection of salmon-coloured structures
is one of Maharaja Jai Singh It's observatories.
The ruler from Jaipur constructed this observatory
in 1725 and it is dominated by a huge sundial
known as the Prince of Dials. Other instruments
plot the course of heavenly bodies and predict
eclipes.
Rastrapati
Bhavan
The official
residence of the President of India stands
at the opposite end of the Rajpath from
India Gate. Completed in 1929, the place-like
building is a blend of Mughal and Western
architectural styles, the most obvious India
feature being the huge copper dome. To the
west of the building is a Mughal garden
which occupies 130 hectares, and this is
open to the public in February. Prior to
Independence this was the viceroy's residence.
At the time of Mountbatten. India's last
viceroy, the number of servants needed to
maintain the 340 rooms and its extensive
gardens was enormous. There were 418 gardeners
alone, 50 of them boys whose sole job was
to chase away birds!
Sansad
Bhavan
Although
another large and imposing building, Sansad
Bhavan, the Indian parliament building,
stands almost hidden and virtually unnoticed
at the end of Sansad Marg. or Parliament
St, just north of Rajpath. The building
is a circular colonnaded structure 171 metres
in diameter. Its relative physical insignificance
in the grand shame of New Delhi shows how
the focus of power has shifted from the
viceroy's residence, which was given pride
of place during the time of the British
Raj when New Delhi was concaved.
Permits to visit the parliament and sit
in the public gallery are available from
the reception office on Raisina Rd, but
you'll need a letter of introduction form
your embassy.
Lotus Temple
Lying to the east of
Siri is this building shaped like a lotus
flower. Built between 1980 and 1986, it
is set amongst pools and gardens, and adherents
of any faith are free to vist the temple
and pray or meditate silently according
to their own religion. It looks particularly
spectacular at dusk when it is floodlit.
The temple is open to visitors from April
to September. daily except Monday from 9
am to 7 pm. and October to March from 9.30
am to 5.30 pm.
Purana
Qula
Just South-east of India
Gate and north of Humayun's Tomb and the
Nizamuddin railway station is the old fort.
Purana Qula. This is the suppossed site
of Indraprasth, the original city of Delhi.
The Afghan ruler, Sher Shah, who briefly
interrrupted the Mughal Empire by defeating
Humanyun, completed the fort during his
regn from 1538-45, before Humayun regained
control of India. The fort has massive walls
and three large gateways.Entering from the
sough gage you'll see the small octagonal
red sandstone tower, the Sher Mandal, later
used by Humayun, as a library. It was while
descending the stairs of this tower one
day in 1556 that he slipped fell and received
injuries from which he later died .
Humayun's Tomb
Built
in the mid-16th century by Haji Begum, senior
wife of Humayn, the second Mughal emperor, this is an early example
of Mughal architecture. The elements in
its design- a squat building, lighted by
high arched entrances, topped by a bulbous
dome and surrounded by formal gardens where
to be refined over the years to the
magnificence of the Taj Mahal in Agra. This
earlier tomb is thus of great interest for
its relation to the later Taj. Humayun's
wife is also buried in the red-and-white
sandstone. black and yellow marble tomb.
Other tombs in the garden include that of
Humayun's barber and the Tomb of Isa Khan,
a good example of Lidi architecture.
Quatab
Minar
The buildings in this
complex, 15 km south of Delhi, date from
the onset of Muslim rule in India and are
fine examples of early Afghan architecture.
The Qutab Minar itself is a soaring tower
of victory which was started in 1193, immediately
after the defeat of the last Hindu kingdom
in Delhi. It is nearly 73 metres high and
tapers from a 15-metre diameter base to
just 2.5 metres at the stop. The tower has
five distances stories, each market by a
projecting balcony. The first three storeys
are made of red sandstone. the fourth and
fifth of marble and sandstone. Although
Qutab-ud-din began construction of the tower,
he only got to the first story.
Today, this impressively ornate tower has
a slight tilt, but otherwise has worn the
centuries remarkably well. The tower is
closed to visitors. and has been for some
years after a stampede during a school trip
led to a number of deaths.
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