Lahore Gate (Delhi)
The Lahore Gate (sometimes Lahori Gate ) at the Red Fort ( Urdu لال قلعہ Lal Qila ) in the Indian capital Delhi is one of the largest and most representative gate buildings in the country. It belongs to Mughal architecture and is recognized as part of the Red Fort Complex as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
history
The after temporary Mughal capital Lahore named Lahore Gate has been the under the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1627-1658) commissioned new construction on the Red Fort in the years 1639 to 1648 built. His son and successor Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707) had a court barbican built in front of the gate around 1660 , which has since blocked the unobstructed view of the gate.
architecture
The core of the gateway to the west of the Red Fort consists of fired bricks ; these were clad with slabs of reddish sandstone, which form blind arcades or blind balconies on the side porches but are otherwise designed with almost no decoration.
The entire gate is a maximum of approx. 25 m high and has a crenellated crown ; the middle part is additionally raised by a row of seven small ornamental pavilions ( chhatris ) , on the sides of which small ornamental towers ( guldastas ) rise. The lateral, polygonally broken bastions with their irregular floor plan protrude several meters and are each crowned by a large ornamental pavilion. The actual approximately 100 m long passage is significantly smaller than the outer portal arch ( iwan ) suggests; it was certainly intended as part of the defense concept, but even in the later Mughal era it was probably home to numerous shops in which one could buy precious gifts for the ladies of the court at the last minute.
literature
- YD Sharma: Delhi and its Neighborhood. Archaeological Survey of India , 1990, pp. 148ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 28 ° 39 ′ 21 ″ N , 77 ° 14 ′ 18 ″ E