Dictionary of islamic architecture

part of the building. Most of the interior of the fort
may be attributed to the reign of Shah Jahan who
also built the Taj Mahal which can be viewed across
the water from the private apartments of the palace.
Although less rigidly planned, the interior of the
Agra Fort bears a striking similarity to the Red Fort
in Delhi also built by Shah Jahan. The layout is
based around a series of formal gardens and
pavilions the most beautiful of which is the
Mussaman Burj or octagonal tower which
overlooks the river and is capped by an octagonal
copper dome. Other important monuments in Agra
include the Rambagh, the Chini Ka Rauza and the
tomb of Itmad al-Daula. The Rambagh is a formal
four-part garden laid out by the first Mughal
emperor Babur. In the centre of the garden is an
open octagonal domed pavilion standing on thirty-
six columns. The Chini Ka Rauza is a Persian-style
tiled tomb crowned with a bulbous dome built for
the seventeenth-century poet Afzal Khan. The tomb
of Iltimad al-Daula is a square structure with
octagonal domed minarets at each corner, the outer
surface of the tomb is decorated with carved white
marble and geometric marble screen. In the centre
of the structure is the tomb of Iltimad al-Daula
which is lined with yellow marble and has fine
pietra dura stone inlay.
See also:
Delhi, India, Mughals, Red Fort, Taj Mahal
Further reading:
M.Ashraf Husain, 
An Historical Guide to the Agra Fort
based on Contemporary Records,
Delhi 1937.
W.G.Klingelhofer, ‘The Jahangiri Mahal of the Agra Fort:
expression and experience in early Mughal
architecture’, 
Muqarnas
5:153–69, 1988.
E.Koch, ‘The lost colonnade of Shah Jahan’s bath in the
Red Fort at Agra’, 
Burlington Magazine
124:331–9, 1982.
—— ‘The Zahara Bagh (Bagh-i Jahanara) at Agra’,
Environmental Design
1986: 30–7.
Ahmadabad
Main city of Gujarat in western India with a mixed Hindu,
Muslim and Jain population.
The old city is located on the east bank of the
Sabarmati river. Ahmadabad was founded by
Ahmad Shah I in 1411 near to the old Hindu town
of Asaval which it replaced. The Bhadra towers
erected by Ahmad Shah to protect the citadel are
the oldest surviving part of the city; however, most
of the original fortifications have been destroyed.
The city contains some of the best examples of
medieval Gujarati architecture which is
characterized by its integration of Hindu, Jain and
Islamic forms.
At the centre of the city is the Jami Masjid built by
Ahmad Shah I and completed in 1424. The plan of the
building comprises a huge rectangular courtyard with
entrances on three sides and a covered sanctuary to
the west. The sanctuary is divided into fifteen domed
bays (five wide and three deep) supported on 260
columns. In the centre of the sanctuary façade is the
huge main entrance flanked by two tall minarets (now