Arts of painting, calligraphy and architecture prospered immensely during Mughal period. Humayun had a great passion for calligraphy and painting. Mughal emperors gave an imputes to architecture. Building constructed by Mughal emperors are a proof of their originality. They constructed vast and windy building. Inner walls were decorated with intricate and subtle patterns. Many buildings constructed by emperors are a masterpiece of art like Taj Mahal Agra; Red fort Delhi; Congregation mosque Delhi; Shalamar Garden Lahore; Wazir Khan mosque Lahore, etc. All these buildings are unique in their style and design.
Overview: Mughal Architecture
Mughal architecture is the distinctive Indo-Islamic architectural style that developed in northern and central India under the patronage of Mughal emperors from the 16th to the 18th century. It is a remarkably symmetrical and decorative amalgam of Persian, Turkish, and Indian architecture. The Mughals were also renowned for creating exquisite gardens in the Persian charbagh layout, in which the quadrilateral gardens were divided by walkways or flowing water into four smaller parts.
Architecture Under Akbar
Early Mughal architecture first developed during the reign of Akbar the Great (1556–1605), who commissioned palaces, mosques , gardens, and mausoleums. The architecture was a synthesis of Persian, Turkic, Timurid Iranian, Central Asian, and Indian Hindu and Muslim styles. Akbari architecture is also remarkable for its large scale use of sandstone, evident both in the construction of Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar’s royal city, and Akbar’s own tomb in Sikandra. The mosque at Fatehpur Sikri boasts the Buland Darwaza, the largest gateway of its kind in India. Early Mughal mosques had massive enclosed courtyards and domed shallow prayer halls.
Tomb of Humayun
One of the most stellar accomplishments of Mughal architecture under Akbar is the tomb of his father Humayun, situated in Delhi. Commissioned in 1562 by Humayun’s wife, Hamida Banu Begum, and designed by a Persian architect, Humayun’s Tomb was the first garden tomb on the Indian subcontinent and the first structure to use red sandstone on such a large scale. It is also the first Indian building to use the Persian double dome , with an outer layer supporting a white marble exterior—a material not seen in earlier Mughal architecture—and the inner layer giving shape to the cavernous interior volume . The use of indigenous Rajasthani decorative elements is particularly striking, including the small canopies or chhatris (elevated, dome shaped pavilions) surrounding the central dome. It boasts the use of the pietra dura technique, with marble and even stone inlay ornamentation in geometrical and arabesque patterns on the facade of the mausoleum, and jali or latticed stone carving decoration. This style of decorative facade was an important addition to Mughal architecture and flourished in later Mughal mausolea, including the Taj Mahal.