Like many of the forts built during the Mughal period, Agra Fort, surrounded by double walls, housed a mix of private dwellings and religious buildings. Built in 1565 by Akbar, the fort was extended and embellished in 1571 by Shah Jahan, the smitten ..

Built in 1638 by the Emperor Shah Jahan, the “forbidden city” of Old Delhi , encircled by red sandstone walls, housed the emperor’s government and palaces. The fort is accessed by the Lahore monumental gate. The two most emblematic buildings are the..

Started in 1644 and finished in 1658, the “Friday Mosque” (the main day of prayer for Muslims), stands on a hill facing the Red Fort . The mosque’s main entrance, the eastern gate, is reached by crossing the open-air market of Meena Bazaar and wendi..

Following the wishes of King George V, the tenth city of Delhi was designed from 1918 according to plans drawn up by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Providing a strong contrast with Old Delhi and its crowded narrow streets, this new district, which symbolised the..

Statues and jewellery from the ancient civilisations of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro (2500-1500 BC), terracotta from the Maurya and Shunga periods (3C and 2C BC), as well as from the Gupta dynasty (4C-6C AD), and stunning miniatures from the Kangra Schoo..

Perched on a hill in the park, Purana Qila (the “Old Fort”), is popular on Sundays with locals who come here for family picnics or to hire a pedalo on the lake at the foot of the walls. This hill is said to be the site of the legendary Indraprashta m..

The tastefully arranged Craft Museum offers an interesting insight into Indian crafts and rural arts and traditions. The museum is laid out to resemble a village with a succession of houses built around courtyards. The museum’s exhibits include magni..

The actual sanctuary, situated at the end of the main avenue of Akshardham temple, is built in the form of a cross and surmounted by domes. The columned avant-corps is decorated with a mass of sculpted figures (over 20 000!) where the elephant takes ..

The promenade along Lodi Road runs through a succession of well-maintained parks (the flowerbeds are a delight to behold in February and March) which mark the southern section of the residential district built by Lutyens. As you stroll along the prom..

Often described as the last masterpiece of Mughal art, this monument is the tomb of the prime minister ( wazir ) of the emperors who had the rank of Safdar Jang . Dating from 1754, the tomb has all the characteristics of Indo-Muslim mausoleums built..

Escape the noise of the city in this romantic English-style garden and visit some fine examples of Indo-Islamic funerary art. The sultans of the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties rest in these gardens: note the tomb of Sultan Mohammed Shah (mid 15C), with it..

To get to the tomb of Hazrat Nizam ud-Din Auliya, a master of Indian Sufism (1238-1325), you’ll have to make your way along a narrow, busy narrow street in the heart of the picturesque Muslim district, which is lined with restaurants and flower-petal..

Residential middle class and wealthy areas alternate with fashionable districts and old villages in this part of the city, which seems to have developed without any regard for town planning. However, a few pleasant districts have survived in the area..

With its four 13m-high look-out towers, this tomb (1628), built by Empress Nur Jahan for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg, is a perfectly proportioned miniature Taj Mahal. The exterior is clad in white marble encrusted with semi-precious stones such as ja..

One of the most important figures in Indian history, Emperor Akbar, lies on the site of the capital founded by Sikandar Lodi, buried in a monument made especially for the emperor and which he himself designed. The tomb was started in 1602 and finishe..

The palace of Jodha Bai was named after a Hindu wife of Akbar, the daughter of a maharaja of Jodhpur. Entrance to the building from the east is via a porch flanked with niches where armed eunuchs once stood, which is overlooked by jharokha (covered..

The Panch Mahal (a five-storey palace), easily recognisable from a distance thanks to its tall triangular silhouette, separates the women’s area from the men’s. Its five hypostyle storeys decrease in size, each placed on top of the other like a pack ..

The Diwan-I Khas, or Hall of Private Audiences, is famous for its magnificent central column carved with scroll-shaped corbels. At the top of the column is a plinth on which the emperor sat to receive his subjects or scholars to discuss philosophical..

The delightful palace of the Turkish Sultana occupies an L-shaped pavilion in the style of a wooden cabin, surrounded by an exquisitely carved veranda. Inside the palace, panels of bas-reliefs depict lions and birds frolicking amid luxuriant vegetati..

Jaipur is renowned throughout the world for its crafts, particularly its block-printed cotton fabrics and jewellery made from gold and precious stones. Each muhalla (district) in the city has its own speciality. Start your visit on Bari Chaupar and..