In pictures: Humayun's Tomb in Delhi

Nitin Rawat | Ground Report | Humayun's Tomb is a tomb in Delhi, India that has been made to save the memory of Mughal Emperor Humayun. His son Akbar constructed this in 1569-1572. It is one of the most beautiful architectural examples of Mughals in India.

There are many tourists to visit this place in every year. It is located in New Delhi. Humayun tomb is the first buildings to have resembled the Mughal char bagh pattern

It is an architectural marvel having a mix of indo-Islamic architecture. First garden tomb on the Indian subcontinent. It is also called as the dormitory of Mughals due to the presence of approximately 150 members from Mughal family, some of even the later Mughals and some are of the wives of Humayun.

UNESCO recognized it as the world heritage site in 1993. This tomb has been built by Persian architects Miraj Mirza Ghiyas and his son Sayyid Muhammad. It was commissioned by Haji Begum, Humayun’s first wife and the son of Humayun Akbar The great.

Humayun tomb pictures

Image 1- Front view of Humayun tomb

The height of Humayun tomb is 47 meters. This was one of the first Indian buildings to have Persian style double dome. The exterior surface of dome is made up of white marble and interior of the dome has a huge volume. The whole building is an example of an architectural marvel ornamented with white marble and rest made with red sandstone. Building is made up of red sandstone and the dome is made of white marble stone, with blue colored stones besides the main dome. The central dome is situated above a plinth that is 7 meters in height. The top of the central dome is 140feet high from the ground. It is a masterpiece resembling the very first building to have an indo-Islamic  aspects to it. The Hindu chattris that is domed pavilions surrounding the central dome.

Image 2- Octagon Design

The plan of the main tomb building is intricate. The layout of The Humayun Tomb has a typical octagon Design also called as Hasht Bahisht layout. The central dome hall is connected with 4 rooms , further interconnected with all 8 rooms. All rooms have cenotaphs in them containing the coffin of many later Mughals as well as the wives of the Mughal badshah. There are many passages through which the central dome hall is connected with the other chambers.  There are 17 arched openings on every side of the tomb. The plinth on which the tomb is standing has corners which are in such a way shaped so that it can meet the corner of the tomb above.

Image 3- Jaali work

Image 4 and 5- External appearance

External appearance of the walls of Humayun tomb showing the splendid work of architecture in Persian style.

Image 6- Chahar Bagh

Humayun tomb was situated in the middle of the 30 acre garden known as char bagh, which is also known as the first such one of a kind quadrilateral Persian style garden built in South Asia region.

Image 7- Arab Ki Sarai        

This is Arab Ki Sarai and it is present in Humayun tomb complex. This place was used for keeping the Persian architects who constructed the tomb. It is restored by The Aga Khan trust. It’s restoration started in January 2017 and got completed in 2018. This building comes under UNESCO World Heritage sites. It is made of red sandstone and it’s height is 13 meters that is 40 feet.

Image 8- hexagram

One of the significant and creative drawings on the wall of Humayun tomb is the 6 pointed star also called as hexagram which, in today’s world is the symbol of Judaism religion. But at that time Akbar the son of Humayun who built this  fort for his late Father Humayun, gave a tribute to his father who was very much into astrology and believed in planetary alignments.

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Pictures by Nitin Rawat, He is photography Student

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