Islamic Gardens Final - Sites

Mughal Empire

1526 - 1858

Bagh-i Nilufar, Dholpur, 1530

• “Lotus Garden”

• Garden is built next to an outcrop of fine-grained red sandstone

• Water is lifted from well by draft animal, channeled via a short aqueduct

  • Not enough pressure for a vigorously spouting fountain

• Ornamental stone chadars

  • Water collected in pools seem to represent the lifecycle of the lotus flower (bud to full bloom, then withering to spent form)

Tomb of Humayun, Delhi, 1560-71

• Elaborated chahar-bagh with tomb at the center

• Tomb has a hesht behesht plan with a double-shelled dome at the center

• Mixture of regional (Hindu) and Islamic elements and materials

  • Chattris come from Hindu temple architecture

  • Red sandstone is local

  • The plan of the tomb and form of the dome have Timurid precedents

• First monumental Mughal imperial tomb, proclaiming Mughal authority, legitimacy, and performance

• Facade is decorated with iwans (and pishtaq portal entrance), Double shelled dome, Jali screen

Red Fort, Agra, mid 16th century-onward

• The new Mughal capital (originally Delhi)

• Built on the irregular-shaped footings of an old sultanate fortress

• The red fort gets its name from the red sandstone its built from

Jahangiri Mahal (Red Fort, Agra)

• Red sandstone facade = sequence of blind arches outlined in white marble

• Terminal points of the facade are marked by short towers marked with airy chattris

• The entrance is composed of an iwan framed by a pishtaq (above balconies called jharokas)

• Inside two stories of apartments without a view to the exterior (because the women of the court lived here, and so it was highly protected)

Diwan-i Amm (Red Fort, Agra)

• Reception hall for public audiences held at the Agra Fort

• Situated between the private residential halls and the semi-public areas where petitioners gathered for an audience with the emperor

• Hypostyle structure comprised of faceted columns (known as Shah Jahani columns)

• Built of red sandstone painted white

Anguri Bagh and Khass Mahal (Red Fort, Agra)

• “Grape Garden”

• Three white pavilions that overlooked a large square chahar bagh

• The three pavilions are together known as the Khass Mahal

  • Consist of private chamber of the emperor

  • Side pavilions have golden, gently curving roofs of a profile called bangla (derived from vernacular Bengali precedents)

Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, 1570 onward

• Another tactically important fortress to the empire

  • Not a key defensive location, but chosen instead so the emperor could be close to his spiritual advisor

• City stands on a high ridge of red sandstone (same material that was used to build the Agra Fort and Fatehpur-Sikri itself)

• Within the 11-kilometer outer enclosure walls stand a huge congregational mosque, caravanserai, various waterworks, and the imperial palace

• Near the caravanserai is a chattri-capped minaret studded with elephant tusks

  • May have been an allusion to Akbar as hunter (hunting being a courtly pastime reserved for princes and nobles) 

Jami Mosque, fin. 1575 (Fatehpur Sikri)

• Fatehpur-Sikri was founded when Sufi teacher predicted birth of the emperors first son

• Huge congregational mosque (one of the largest in India) that became a khanqah when the Sufi teacher was buried there

• Big open courtyard with huge entry portal. Prayer hall is off to one side and the sufi teachers tomb stands on the northern side

• Red sandstone was locally quarried

Tomb of Salim al-Din Chisti, 1580 (Fatehpur Sikri)

• Completed almost 10 years after Salim al-Din Chisti’s death according to inscriptions

• Tomb consists of a white marble domed chamber surrounded by a porch protected by jali screens

• Broad smooth eave supported by serpentine brackets

• The distinctive white marble is typically a material reserved for saints’ tombs in this period

Diwan-i Khass (Fatehpur Sikri)

• A free-standing square pavilion with exterior brackets supporting the second-story balcony on the exterior and the overhanging eave above it

• Chattris mark the four corners of the structure, replacing the role of minarets as spatial markers in earlier Timurid architecture

• Speculated that the great pillar in the center was a throne for the emperor where he could position himself at the center of the Hindu mandala

Anup Talao, in the Fateh-Sikri palace, 1575, Mughal

• Adapts the stepwell typology for leisure purposes: this is where musicians would play

• Illusion of an island floating in a large tank of water

• Located in the more public part of the huge palace

• Water level rose with the monsoon and then subsided during the dry season

• Contemporary sources said that on one occasion the emperor filled the tank with gold coins to distribute to the people

Panch Mahal (Fatehpur Sikri)

• “Panch” means five, “mahal” means palace, pavilion, or apartment

• Five-tiered structure that culminates in a chattri

• One of the many spaces in Islamic architecture where women who were otherwise restricted in their movement and visibility could peer outward to observe the activities of men without themselves being seen

• Each level seems to balance on slim vertical supports, but the apparent fragility of the structure is balanced by its pyramidal shape

Zenana garden (Fatehpur Sikri)

• Water was pumped upwards from a well outside of the palace, carried via aqueduct, and deposited in a roofed tank in the southeast and highest corner of the garden

  • Passed over a chadar into the garden

• Water was scarce at the Fatehpur-Sikri, and the architects challenge was to create the effect of ample supplies–filling the Anup Talao tank and watering the zenana garden using as little of it as possible

Shalimar Bagh, Kashmir, 1619

• Built by Shah Jahan

• Consisted of two chahar bagh terraces, extended along the central axis by a half terrace added at the lakefront end

Nishat Bagh, Kashmir, 1625

• Built by the Mughal emperor’s advisor

• Because this wasnt a royal residence, no need for an audience hall

• Cool summer is an escape from India’s heat

• Organized around central water axis that flows from mountain to lake

• As water drops from one level to the next, it falls over chini khana panels and over chadars

• 12 levels reflect the signs of the zodiac

Tomb of Itmad al-Dawla (or ud-Dawla) Agra, 1622-28

• Built by the empress for her parents

• The mausoleum stands at the center of a chahar bagh

• The rivers presence changes the spatial flow of the garden so that it has both a central focus around the mausoleum as well as a clear axial direction running from the main gate to a second gate on the riverfront

• The sandstone surfaces of both gates are heavily incised with a white marble intarsia that depicts flowers and vases, themes of pleasure

Taj Mahal, Agra, 1631-48

• Enormous mausoleum (set inside a vast garden) made for the emperors wife

• Took 15+ years to build and employed around 20,000 workers

• Tomb is not centered, but pulled back to the far end of the central axis

• Pays respect to the Timurid ancestry of the Mughals in its chahar bagh setting, hesht bihisht plan, and grand double-shelled dome (also pishtaq facade and iwans) 

• White marble tomb (around 76 meters high) stands on an enormous plinth

• Rectangular band that frames the pishtaq opening contains verses from the Quran that were deliberately selected to proclaim the power of God and Gods punishment of the wicked on Judgement Day

Mahtab Bagh, Agra, 1632-43

• “Moonlight Garden”

• Has the form of a modified chahar bagh with a raised octagonal pool on its riverfront that was protected by a red sandstone retaining wall

• The pleasure garden may have been built to complement the Taj Mahal on the opposite side of the bank

• By the 18th century, the original character of the Mahtab Bagh had been forgotten and its pavilion was in ruins

Modernity

Rashtrapati Bhawan (Viceroy’s House) and garden, fin. 1931, Delhi

• “Presidents House”

• Built in a newly developed area of Delhi during the period when India was a British colony

• Originally designed the house in full blown classical style, however following outbreaks of violent resistance to British rule, the design was tempered with Indic elements–the broad eave, rooftop chattris, the dome resembling a Buddhist stupa, and statues of elephants

Islamic Mosque and Cultural Center of New York, 1991

• Invited master artists from Morocco to create the courtyard in New York

• Does not represent current trends in Islamic art but hearkens to the time of the Marinids

Mosque of Granada, 2003

• Built for Granada’s growing population of immigrants and converts

• Interprets traditional forms from Granada’s Islamic past, such as geometry of the garden and the fountain

• Looks across to the Alhambra Palace across the valley

• Minaret is lower than nearby church because Christian residents feared competition

Shangri La, 1937-1938, Honolulu

• Vacation home of the heiress Doris Duke

• Inspired by Persian garden architecture, with a water channel that drops from one level to the next on the sloping site

• Example of global aspect of Islamic architecture in that it had become available for adaptation by non-Muslim patrons around the world

• Persian courtyard

• Mughal garden

Azhar Park, 2005, Cairo

• Contemporary public park in Egypt

• 31-hectare hilltop site 

• Project began with an archaeology project that revealed long sections of the historic Ayyubid walls, buried in some places by 45 meters of debris

• Since the nearby neighborhood was one of Cairo’s poorest, the project also included schemes to provide better housing, clean water supplies, sanitation, and jobs

• The colorful ablaq pavement, fountains, pools, chadars, gemotries and terracing are all recognizable historic elements