Lal Masjid, Delhi Explained

Building Name:Lal Masjid
Map Type:India Delhi
Map Size:200
Location:Delhi
Country: India
Coordinates:28.6652°N 77.2296°W
Religious Affiliation:Islam
Architecture Type:Mosque
Architecture Style:Indo-Islamic
Groundbreaking:1728
Year Completed:1729
Materials:Red sandstone, white marble

Lal Masjid ("Red Mosque") of Delhi, also known as the Fakr-ul Masjid ("Pride of Mosques") or Sikandar Sahib's Masjid,[1] is a mosque located in Bara Bazaar, Kashmiri Gate in Old Delhi, India.

History

The building was built in 1728 by Kaniz-i-Fatima (entitled Fakr-i-Jahan), in memory of her husband Shujaat Khan, a noble in the court of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.[2] Colonel James Skinner repaired the mosque and its construction is sometimes misattributed to him.[3]

In the 1857 Siege of Delhi the mosque was damaged, yet since then, has been repaired.[4]

Architecture

The mosque sits on a raised plinth of about 40feet by 24feet and stands 2.5m (08.2feet) above the adjacent shop-lined streets.[5] [6] The main complex consists of three rooms each with its own arched entryway. Two striped towers on either side of the center arch are mirrored by the mosque's two minarets standing at the rear corners of building. Behind a decorated parapet on the roof of the mosque sit three white and black marble domes. The building's prominent use of red sandstone and white marble is considered unusual for the period, though many of its other features, including its minarets and domes, are closely modeled off of the major mosques of Delhi including the nearby Jama Masjid.[7]

References


Notes and References

  1. Book: Delhi: Unknown Tales of a City. Smith. R,V. Ronald Vivian Smith. Roli Books Private Limited. 9789351941255. en. 30 May 2015.
  2. Book: Peck. Lucy. Delhi, a thousand years of building. The Lotus Collection. 9788174363541. en. August 2005.
  3. Book: Smith, Ronald Vivian. The Delhi that No-one Knows. 2005. Orient Blackswan. 9788180280207. en.
  4. Book: Keene, Henry George. A Handbook for Visitors to Delhi and Its Neighborhood. Thacker & Co. 1906. Bombay. 25–26.
  5. Book: Stephen, Carr. The Archæology and Monumental Remains of Delhi. Thacker Spink & Co. 1876. Ludhiana. 270–271.
  6. Web site: Lal Masjid (Fakrul Masjid). https://web.archive.org/web/20070706222942/http://archnet.org/institutions/INTACH/library/web/delhi/Page023.html. dead. 2007-07-06. 2007-07-06. 2018-09-30.
  7. Book: Asher, Catherine B.. India before Europe. 2006. Cambridge University Press. Talbot. Cynthia. 0521809045. New York. 61303480.