Jama Masjid
Masjid-i-Jahan-Numa
Shah Jahan's great congregational mosque, raised on a rock outcrop above the lanes of the old city.
The mosque is set on a natural rise and then lifted further by three broad flights of steps, so that arriving is a climb out of the bazaar into open sky. The courtyard holds twenty-five thousand people. Three marble domes with black inlay sit above the prayer hall, flanked by two minarets of alternating red sandstone and marble, and the proportions are calibrated for a crowd rather than for a photograph.
Its name means the mosque commanding a view of the world, and the claim is literal: from the top of the southern minaret you can read the whole of Shahjahanabad, the Red Fort to the east, and on a clear winter morning the ridge beyond. Down at ground level the steps are the real institution — kite sellers, biryani shops, pigeon fanciers and photographers work them from dawn, and the mosque functions as the front porch of an entire neighbourhood.
- 01The southern minaretA narrow spiral climb of forty metres for the best rooftop view of the old city.
- 02The eastern stepsThe royal entrance, and still the liveliest — a market in permanent session.
- 03Meena Bazaar and Matia MahalThe lanes at the foot of the mosque, where Delhi's oldest kitchens still operate.
Closed to sightseers during the five prayer times. Dress modestly; robes are lent at the gate, and shoes are left with an attendant.