Humayun’s Tomb
The second Mughal Emperor, Nisiruddin Humayun,
inherited the Indian portion of his father’s empire upon his
death in 1530. Defeated by the Afghan Sultan Sher Shah Suri in 1540,
he regained the throne in 1555 with the help of Persian forces. His
years of exile in Persia had a profound effect on the course of Mughal
art and architecture, with the original Central Asian influences replaced
by Persian ones.
Upon his death in 1556, his senior widow, Haji Begum, commissioned
the building of his tomb, entrusting the work to the Persian architect
Mirak Mirza. The plan of the tomb complex is based on descriptions
of Islamic paradise gardens. The tomb and garden exhibit quadrapartite
symmetry, with the four facades having only minor differences in the
handling of the entrances.
Completed in 1565, the work is considered the first great example of
a Mughal garden tomb. The style reached its zenith under the fifth
Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, and
remained popular until near the end of the Mughal empire some
two hundred years later.
Photo taken: January 16, 2008
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