Humayun's Tomb Complex (Delhi)

 tomb(s), garden, interesting place, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Mathura Road Opposite, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah, Mathura Road, Nizamuddin, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi, Delhi 110013, India
Phone: +91 11 2435 5275

Humayun's tomb is a complex of buildings of Mughal architecture located in Nizamuddin East, New Delhi. In time of Slave Dynasty this land was under the KiloKheri Fort which was capital of Sultan Kequbad S/o Nasiruddin(1268-1287 AD).It encompasses the main tomb of the Emperor Humayun as well as numerous others, including the Baber's Tomb. The complex is a World Heritage Site and the first example of this type of Mughal architecture in India. This style of mausoleum was the same that created the Taj Mahal in Agra.

The tomb of Humayun was built by the orders of Hamida Banu Begum, Humayun's widow starting in 1562. The architect of the edifice was reportedly Sayyed Muhammad ibn Mirak Ghiyathuddin and his father Mirak Ghiyathuddin who were brought in from Herat. It took 8 years to build and had a Chahr Bagh Garden style in its design, the first of its kind in the region.

Restoration work by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) was completed in March 2003, enabling water to flow through the watercourses in the gardens once more. Funding for this work was a gift from the institutions of the Aga Khan to India. In addition, AKTC is conducting a more significant restoration at Babur's tomb, the resting place of Humayun's father in Kabul.

The Humayun's Tomb was a landmark in establishing some of the essential norms for later Mughal mausoleums in India. The tomb can be compared with the mausoleums of Timur and Bibi Khanam at Samarqand. It is set in the middle of a geometrically arranged garden. In Islam, there is a concept that paradise or jannat is a place set somewhere in the middle of the garden with water flowing through the. It is called the Char Bagh as the entire garden is divided into four parts.

Humayun's Tomb was the first garden tomb made in India. The garden is divided into 36 squares by a grid of water channels and paths. The square garden is surrounded by a high rubble wall divided initially into four large squares separated by causeways and channels, each square divided again into smaller squares by pathways creating a char bagh. The laying down of the gardens in the Persian style was introduced by Babur and continued till the period of Shah Jahan.

The entry to the Humayun's Tomb is through a long axial processional track. On the way, there are gateways, which offer a glimpse of the tomb. The tomb is octagonal in shape and placed over a platform with colonnades, under which there are numerous graves of lesser known people and can be ascribed to various nobles and workers of Humayun's period. A great central chamber has four offsets, double storeyed in height and with arcade on their facades. Their openings closed with perforated screens. Three emphatic arches dominate each side, the central one being the highest. The central room contains the cenotaph of the emperor Humayun. and his queen Bega begum. The tomb is crowned by 42.5 m high colossal double dome.

The structure is built mainly with red sandstone along with use of white and black marble to relieve the monotony. The marble is used largely in the borders. The dome is made of white marble. The Humayun's tomb is the first Indian building to use the Persian concept of a double dome.

The enclosure is entered through two eminent double-storeyed gateways, one on the west and the other on the south. The southern gateway remains closed nowadays. The baradari or the pavilion occupies the center of the eastern wall and the hamam or the bath chamber the center of northern wall.