Jama Masjid in Old Delhi - c1875

Photographer: John Edward Saché

The Jami Masjid was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (ruled 1628-58) in Shahjahanabad, the seventh city of Delhi founded by him in 1639. It was the city’s principal congregational mosque for Friday prayers. Situated on an outcrop of rock, the prayer hall or sanctuary stands in a vast arcaded courtyard set on a plinth and reached by flights of steps. At the time of construction it was the largest mosque in India. The sanctuary has a imposing façade consisting of five arches on either side of a massive central arched entrance, three bulbous domes and two marble minarets set at each end of the building. Built in red sandstone, it has white and black marble decoration including vertical white stripes inlaid on the minarets and vertical black stripes inlaid on the white domes. This view of the mosque shows the entrance gate.

Source: British Library