Our driver Vikram and our guide Waru picked us up at nine. Most of the shops are closed because of the election but at least there is a reduction in congestion.
We begin at Humayun's Tomb.
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| Beautiful symmetry |
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| The six sided stars in this case are Hindi - indicating male and female in the two triangles that they are composed off. |
Usually kings built their own tomb over their lifetime, but this beautiful tomb was built under the supervision of the widow of Emperor Humayun. It is said that this inspired Emperor Shahjehan to build the Taj Mahal in Agra.
It is the first of the Mughal style "double dome" where the dome sits on a circle of arches which spread the load of the dome, thus allowing them to stand for many centuries. (Nearly 5 in this case.)
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| Waru demonstrates the double dome technique in the sand. |
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| The grounds are spacious and well maintains, and I think this adds to making this space special |
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| Waru takes us to the side to get an attractive photo that does not include other tourists. |
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| The red sandstone and the cream marble are a stunning combination |
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| Close-up of the marble inlay. Marble sourced in India is very hard, so the citting into shapes without power tools would have been very labour intensive. |
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| Can you see the dome sitting on the arches? |
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| Humayun's tomb and that of his clever wife Bega Begum. |
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| This is a typical room for women who must not be seen. |
There are other tombs in the grounds including this octagonal one with turrets on top which give it a rather Russian feel
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| You can see the sky is quite polluted which is a great shame as the roofs of this tomb were a very pretty blue. |
I am having trouble adding the photos of our next visit so will start a new blog.
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