Humayun Tomb is one of the popular place among Delhi Photographers and many of the Photographers have worked on this beautiful monument. I have visited this place many times and this time we were accompanying some of the office folks who had come from US and wanted to explore something around Delhi. Let's check this Photo Journey of Humayun's Tomb and it's again different from other four Journeys shared earlier - 1, 2, 3, 4 ...
Humayun's Tomb is actually a tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's wife Hamida Banu Begum in 1562 AD, and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, a Persian architect. It was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, and is located in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, India, close to the Dina-panah citadel also known as Purana Qila, that Humayun founded in 1533. It was also the first structure to use red sandstone at such a scale...
This was first time, when we noticed more security folks around the place. Usually security can be seen around main buildings, but staff has been increased, I guess, to cover surrounding gardens as well.
One of our Team-Mate looking at information board about Humayun's Tomb.
Main Tomb as reflection in a small water pond in front of it. Actually there are four such ponds facing all four doors of the tomb but the other three are not as maintained as the one in front of main gate is. Water Fountains are also installed in these ponds, which are creating these ripples in water.
Here is another photograph with Reflection, which is giving an idea about shape of Humayun's Tomb.
Humayun's Tomb is a two storey building, but each storey of this building is extremely huge. Above Photograph shows first storey of this building and see the difference between height of a man and this huge building. Every part of these buildings is huge including staircases.
The tomb was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, and since then has undergone extensive restoration work, which is still underway. Besides the main tomb enclosure of Humayun, several smaller monuments dot the pathway leading up to it, from the main entrance in the West, including one that even pre-dates the main tomb itself, by twenty years... It is the tomb complex of Isa Khan Niyazi, an Afghan noble in Sher Shah Suri's court of the Suri dynasty, who fought against the Mughals, constructed in 1547 CE.
Birds flying around the second gate of Humayun's Tomb (A Sunset Shot)
Lot of tourists visit this place and try to understand the Mughal Architecture...
A Pigeon sitting on one of the window and photograph is shot from inside the main Tomb. During Sunset, some wonderful shades of light can be seen peeping inside the Humayun's tomb.
We went to Humayun Tomb during evening after dealing with our priority activities in office. It was almost sunset time, when we reached the main Tomb in the end. But this was my first visit, when I could sunset light magic inside the tomb. Now onwards, most of the photographs are clicked inside the main Tomb and sunset light passing through windows and Jharokhas.
Islamic rule in India also introduced Islamic architecture into the subcontinent and early monuments started appearing in and around Delhi, the capital of Delhi Sultanate. Starting with the Mamluk dynasty which built the Qutb Minar (1192 AD) and its adjacent Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (1193 CE). North India was successive ruled foreign dynasties in the coming centuries giving rise to the Indo-Islamic architecture.
The combination of red sandstone and white marble was previously seen in Delhi Sultanate period tombs and mosques, most distinctively in the highly decorative Alai Darwaza in the Qutub complex, Mehrauli, built in 1311 AD, under the Khilji dynasty. (Courtesy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Humayun)
Above Photograph shows a Jalidar Window on extreme left from where golden light rays of sunset are passing to his two walls on the right. This photograph is again shot inside the main Tomb of Humayun-Tomb Campus.
The mausoleum is a synthesis of Persian architecture and Indian traditions - the former exemplified by the arched alcoves, corridors and the high double dome, and the latter by the kiosks, which give it a pyramidal outline from distance. Although Sikandar Lodi's tomb was the first garden-tomb to be built in India, it is Humayun's tomb which set up a new vogue, the crowning achievement of which is the Taj at Agra. There is also a somewhat common human impetus behind these two edifices-one erected by a devoted wife for her husband and the other by an equally or more devoted husband for his wife. (Courtesy - http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_whs_humayuntomb.asp)
The tomb established some of the important norms for later Mughal mausolea. It is set in a geometrically arranged garden criscrossed by numerous water channels and probably representing symbolically a paradise setting. Such typical Persian gardens had been introduced into India by Babur; later they would be found in the Red Fort in Delhi and at the Taj Mahal in Agra. (Courtesy - http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/cities/india/delhi/humayun/humayun.html)
Delhi is all about Mughal architecture and the remains of this very effervescent history shows the glory of Mughal Empire in India. Humayun's tomb is one of the remarkable structures of the Mughal Empire in India. The monument is surrounded my many new buildings but still the structure has the importance of its own and sill can be seen upright and bright. Just close to the monument, there is the shrine of Nizamuddin which is very sacred among Muslims. (Courtesy - http://www.delhicapital.com/monuments-in-delhi/humayun-tomb.html)
In 1857, the tomb was used as shelter by Bahadur Shah Zafar and his three princes during the first war of Independence. ( Courtesy - http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/india/delhi/humayun.php)
It was again a new experience of photographing Humayun's Tomb during winters without fog in Delhi !
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