Delhi's Mughal Emperors left their mark on the city in many ways – including the architectural wonder that houses many of them.
Humayun's Tomb is the last resting place for one of the most important dynasties to rule Delhi and India – the Mughals. With its glowing white dome, floating serenely above the red-and-white patterned arches of the main building, it is one of the finest examples of Mughal architecture in the world. It is also the first 'garden-tomb' to be built in India, and the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. No wonder it is also a World Heritage Site.The approach to Humayun's Tomb is along the Lodhi Road, south-east of the centre of New Delhi. It is lined with the tombs of earlier rulers, like Isa Kahn, but Humayun's Tomb stands above them all. The central dome is 46 metres high, clad in white marble, standing over the tomb of Emperor Humayun. His body was bought here in 1572, sixteen years after his death, once the Tomb – built at the request of his first wife – was finally complete.And although the dome of the Tomb naturally pulls you in, the vast formal squares of the Char Bagh garden – with its jasmine, mango, hibiscus and lemon trees – will first make you linger. This is the first garden in the Persian style in India, and was built according to the Islamic principles of the Mughals. There are four long cool waterways, all appearing to cross within the Tomb. These are the jannat – 'the rivers that flow in paradise'. Their disappearance under the Tomb is to reflect the Koran, which sees the jannat as flowing beneath the Garden of Paradise.And the central chamber of the Tomb is indeed paradisal – a tall octagonal space of calm and cool, reaching up into the main dome. Light filters in through intricate lattice-work over its high windows. It was built to house the body of the second Mughal emperor, Humayun, which actually lies in the burial chambers beneath. Over 100 members of the Mughal royal family were buried here, over the centuries. But after the Mughals were defeated in the 19th-century, it fell into disrepair, with the gardens neglected and forgotten. It is only in the last decade or so that the Tomb, and its elegant gardens, have been restored to their former glory.
