Jahangir mausoleum

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Jahangir Mausoleum, Lahore (Pakistan). The broad grave building with its four corner minarets stands in the center of a large garden in the Persian style ( Char-Bagh ) .

The tomb for the 4th Mughal ruler Nuruddin Shah Jahangir Padshah Ghazi (r. 1605–1627) is one of the largest mausoleums of the Mughal period .

location

The mausoleum is located about 5 km north of the city of Lahore (Pakistan) in the extensive park area Shahdara Bagh ( Urdu شاہدرہ باغ DMG Šāhdara Bāġ ) in the Persian style. Approx. 1 km west of the Jahangir mausoleum rises the - also only one-story - tomb for his main wife Nur Jahan ; allegedly both mausoleums were connected by an underground tunnel.

history

After the ruler's death, the building was built between 1627 and 1637 by his widow Nur Jahan and his son and successor Shah Jahan . The mausoleum is permanently endangered by earthquakes and floods from the nearby Ravi river and has already been restored several times.

Park and mosque

In front of the entrance portal to the actual mausoleum district is a large, square area lined with numerous arcades, on the west side of which there is a mosque with a large central portal and two smaller side portals; In this, the believers could perform their prayers - prescribed by the Koran several times a day - during their usually longer visits .

architecture

At its core, all the buildings in the Jahangir mausoleum are made of bricks that are burnt and walled up on site . However, only the cladding made of red sandstone and white marble slabs is visible, which was transported over a distance of approx. 700 km from the east of Rajasthan .

Gate construction

Jahangir mausoleum, gate construction

The gateway to the mausoleum with its large central portal ( iwan ) and the four accompanying galleries is executed in the Mughal style. However, the usual Chhatri attachments are missing on the roof - instead, there are small turrets in the corners of the building. The crenellated wreath common in gateways has been replaced by red stone slabs with a crenellated ornament made of white marble inlay. From a distance, the building appears to consist only of red sandstone - only closer does the decor emerge more clearly: The decorative fields on the side of the archway contain geometric stone inlays made of white marble - the upper ones contain vase and flower motifs. The grave building can be reached from four sides via wide paths with embedded, straight water channels and lateral flower beds, which are higher than the garden level.

Funerary monument

The architecture of the Jahangir mausoleum, which looks like a platform without superstructures, is based on both the tomb of his father Akbar in Sikandra (India) and the tomb of his parents-in-law, the Itimad-ud-Daula mausoleum in Agra (India).

Jahangir Mausoleum, Lahore (Pakistan). The central marble roof pavilion was removed in the 19th century. The garden surrounding the tomb with its straight water channels and flower beds is to be understood as an earthly image of the paradise promised to the believers by the Koran .

Exterior construction

At first glance, the enormous width of the structure (approx. 84 × 84 m) with four delimiting minarets with Chhatri attachments in the corners is striking . The center of the building was originally emphasized by a marble pavilion - removed in the 19th century - of which no pictures exist anymore, but which was probably based on similar constructions on the Akbar mausoleum and the Itimad-ud-Daula mausoleum. The pavilion attachments (chhatris) , which are otherwise obligatory in Mughal architecture, are also missing - instead, the huge roof surface is flat and only has a surrounding parapet consisting of white marble grids ( jalis ) .

The entire area of ​​the tomb is clad with red sandstone slabs from the area around Fatehpur Sikri , Rajasthan , in which a large number of decorative fields with geometric and floral motifs made of white marble inlays are incorporated. In the arches above the eleven large arcade openings there are sculptured rosettes made of white marble.

The decoration of the upper three floors of the octagonal minarets differs significantly from the substructure: on the tower shafts there are jagged ornaments made of yellow, white and red stone, which - especially when viewed from below - gives an almost three-dimensional effect.

Interior with the richly decorated cenotaph of Jahangir

inner space

The anteroom (vestibule) to the actual grave room is richly decorated with floral stucco work and paintings. The grave room itself only contains the cenotaph of the deceased ruler and is designed much more restrained: the walls and the large wall niches are clad with white marble slabs in which rather simple decorative motifs made of black marble are inlaid.

The floor of the tomb and the side niches is laid out with a geometrical and potentially infinite pattern. The cenotaph itself - one of the most beautiful from the Mughal period - rests on a slightly raised plinth adorned with arabesque motifs ; with its lavish decoration in the form of inscriptions, flower garlands and small braided band ornaments - all in pietra dura technique - it points ahead to the two cenotaphs of the Taj Mahal. However, the actual grave of Jahangir is - as usual - below ground level.

meaning

The Jahangir Mausoleum is - apart from the nearby tomb of his favorite wife Nur Jahan - the only significant Mughal tomb in today's Pakistan. Due to the lack of emphasis on the middle, the building appears - after the demolition of the marble roof attachment - rather unbalanced and inharmonious compared to its predecessor and successor buildings.

For the first time in a Mughal tomb, however, four minarets were placed in the corners of the structure; an idea that points to the Taj Mahal, which began just a few years later .

See also

Other significant mausoleums of the Mughal period are:

literature

  • Catherine B. Asher: Architecture of Mughal India (= The New Cambridge History of India. 1, 4). Reprinted edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2003, ISBN 0-521-26728-5 .
  • Ajit S. Bhalla: Royal Tombs of India. 13th to 18th Century. Mapin Publishing et al., Ahmedabad 2009, ISBN 978-0-944142-89-9 .
  • Hermann Forkl, Johannes Kalter, Thomas Leisten, Margareta Pavaloi (eds.): The gardens of Islam. Edition H. Mayer, Stuttgart et al. 1993.
  • Bamber Gascoigne: The Mughals. Splendor and greatness of Mohammedan princes in India. Special edition. Prisma-Verlag, Gütersloh 1987, ISBN 978-3-570-09930-8 .
  • Markus Hattstein, Peter Delius (Ed.): Islam. Art and architecture. Könemann, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-89508-846-3 , p. 479.
  • Ebba Koch : Mughal Architecture. An Outline of Its History and Development (1526-1858). Prestel, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-7913-1070-4 .
  • Alfred Renz: History and Sites of Islam from Spain to India. Prestel, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7913-0360-0 , p. 689 and 709

Web links

Coordinates: 31 ° 37 ′ 21 ″  N , 74 ° 18 ′ 11 ″  E