Islamic Architecture Notes

Monumental Scale: Imperial Islamic architecture emphasizes grandeur.
- Structures like the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort are massive, conveying power and wealth.
Dome Structures: Large domes are a key feature.
- They serve as a central point and add to the majestic appearance.
- High-quality marble and sandstone were commonly used.
Symmetry and Geometry: Geometric patterns and symmetrical layouts are key characteristics.
- Symmetry reflects aesthetic principles and a desire for order and balance.
Quadrilateral Gardens (Char Bagh): A garden divided into four parts is a feature.

Agra was strategically important to Rajasthan.
- The sovereign sought support from Rajput princes.
- Rajasthan was a bridgehead into Gujarat for Akbar's expansionist policy.
- Gujarati ports (Surat, Broach, and Cambay) offered sea routes and trade with Arab countries.
The complex (religious and secular buildings) forms a rectangle of approximately $2 \times 3$ km, surrounded by a 6 km non-fortified wall.
- Originally opened by nine gates flanked by semi-circular bastions.
- The wall is collapsed in various points.
- An artificial lake exists on the fourth side.
- Defensive features were primarily for appearance.
The city had approximately 200,000 inhabitants according to historical records.
Central Area:
- Mosque, palace complex, caravanserai, and hammam.
Peripheral Area:
- Services with unknown functions due to demolition or later superimpositions.

Akbar created a new capital 37 km from Agra at Sikri.
- Site of Shaikh Salim Chishti's hermitage, whom Akbar met in 1568-9 to request an heir.
- Prince Salim (Jahangir) was born on August 30, 1569.
- In 1571, Akbar decided to build a city on the site.
Political considerations also affected Akbar's choice.
Craftsmen for Fatehpur Sikri were recruited from various Indian provinces due to their specific skills which resulted in its noble elegant buildings and delightful places.
Father Antonio Monserrate (lived in Fatehpur Sikri from 1580 to 1582) describes the city's marvelous layout and beautification funded by the royal treasury, nobles, and courtiers.
- Public baths and the bazaar are of extraordinary elegance.

Not a large structure, but uniquely conceived.
- Rectangular plan, two stories, flat terraced roof with pillared kiosks at each corner.
Akbar devised the interior to suit his motives.
- A single chamber with a large central pillar.
- Massive expanding capital supporting a circular stone platform.
- Stone bridges connect the central platform to galleries on the hall's upper portion.
Other buildings served specific purposes with variations of the general architectural principles.
- Panch Mahal (Palace of Five Stories), Khwabgah (House of Dreams), Astrologer's Seat, Department of Records.
- Exterior treatment emphasizes horizontality.

Largest and most majestic religious building in the city.
- Completed in 1571-2, as inscribed on its door praising its elegance.
- Contemporary authors and travelers considered it unparalleled.
- Jahangir called it one of his father's greatest monuments.
- Akbar built it for the shaikh and as a monastic school (Khangah) for the saint's disciples.
The mosque stands on a higher site than the city's rocky plain.
- High plinth supported by relies had to be built to provide support.
Made of red sandstone with a sahn 130 m long (north-south) by 165 m (east-west).
- Surrounded by pillared porches supporting wide cuspidated arches.
- Surmounted by wide chhajja with rhythmically arranged chhatri on the parapet.
- The prayer hall measures $87.8 \times 19.8$ m and is divided into sections.
- The central section (12.5 m square) is covered by a huge dome, flanked by two cupolas with ribs inside.

Buland Darwaza: Highest and grandest gateway in India, among the biggest in the world.
- Approached by a 13-meter flight of steps.
- Raised in 1602 AD to commemorate Akbar's victory.
Badshahi Darwaza (Royal Door): Reserved for the emperor.
- Situated on the eastern side of the mosque facing Agra.
- Main entrance to the mosque, projecting as a half hexagonal porch.

Located in the Sahn-i Khass, which stands on a higher level.
- Extends for 211.3 m (east-west) and 196.5 m (north-south), resembling the Akbari Mahall and Jahangiri Mahall at Agra.
- Single entrance facing east across a wide paved courtyard.
- Three-centered arch decorated with lotus garlands and deep blind niches, wide covered balconies crowned with chhatri.
- Guards' outer room.
Interior features:
- Four courtyards, the main one $54.9 \times 49.32$ m contains open work balustrades and chhajja.
- Spacious courtyard around which two-story apartments are arranged.
- Living spaces at the corners, ceremonial rooms at the center, connected by single-story corridors.
- Corner suites made up of a closed room on two
Ceremonial rooms:
- Identical rooms on the northern and southern sides.
- Rectangular room with a spacious colonnaded verandah with torana niches.
- Small raised platform at the center.
Upper floor:
- Four square and domed rooms at the corners.
- Two pavilions with columns and ligular gable roofs on the eastern and western sides.
- Two triangular pavilions with khaprel roofs and chhatri on the southern and northern sides.
- Decoration originally dressedcom glazed tiles from Fulean magnificently colored.
Pavilions to the east and west:
- Verandahs with three-barrel vaults with square pillars and corbels with a pyramidal roof supported by eight pillars.

Located in the north-eastern corner of the Anup Talao.
- Small structure measuring 3.96 x 1.3 m with a portico.
- Connected to the Daulat Khana complex and the Girls' School by a colonnade.
Originally, the verandah and portico were screened by perforated stone slabs.
Some scholars believe it was the home of a wife of the emperor who also owned the connecting bath.
The decorative richness defined it as a superb jewel casket.
Gujarati craftsmen contributed to the decoration.
Interior is completely decorated with a variety of motifs, including Hindu swastikas and human or animal figures.
Both outside on the corinth, and inside each semi-he is dressed in fil, xalk motifs of small ey presses pani Irces and trees palm with brand with interlumed deaves detranks
On these verandah chechell shaped eorbels which support the architraves of the ceiling are strutlar to those of other monuments in Fatehpur Sikri, but the original sculptures which decorated them make them unique.