MUGHAL ARCHITECTURE
Jami Mosque, facade (Aga Khan MIT Visual Archive). This mosque, built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan in 1648, is the largest and arguably the most beautiful in India. Note the characteristic features of Mughal architecture: the use of red sandstone and white marble and the incorporation of Hindu architectural features such as the ogee arch, the elevation of the sacred space by means of a square platform, and the use of chhatris ("umbrellas") on minarets and pavilions.
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Jami Mosque, dome and minarets (Aga Khan MIT Visual Archive). This is another view of the mosque complex depicted above. |
| Taj Mahal, 1634 (www.indiagov.org). Shah Jehan built this memorial for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died bearing their 14th child. It took 20,000 workers some 20 years to complete. The Taj Mahal epitomizes the Mughal emphasis on symmetry. |  |
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Decorative tombs of Shah Jehan and Mumtaz Mahal, inside the Taj Mahal (Incore). The actual tombs are beneath the ground; these are just for show. Note the spectacular inlay of semi-precious stones in the marble. This style of inlay work (pietra dura) is characteristic of Mughal decorative art. |
Links to copyrighted images:
- Emperor Awrangzeb's Moti Mahal (Pearl Mosque): Illustrates Awrangzeb's attempt to purify Mughal mosque architecture of Hindu influences (1662). This tiny, elegant mosque is located inside the Delhi fort built by Shah Jehan. Shah Jehan had intended the larger, external Jami Mosque to serve as the main locus of worship for the denizens of the palace, but his successor Awrangzeb decided that a "graceful place of worship should be erected to enable him at various times of the day or night to pay his devotions without the trouble of a retinue or long journey." Thus the Moti Mahal was constructed near Awrangzeb's private bedchambers (Brown, Indian Architecture, 121).
- Taj Mahal, Pictures and Architectural Detail
Copyright © 1999 Indira Falk Gesink
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