Arab Sarai Gateway


Arab Ki Sarai Gateway, By Mohsin Javed
The Arab Sarai gateway is 48 feet high gateway served as the southern entrance of the Arab Sarai, built to accommodate the Persian craftsmen involved in the building of Humayun’s garden-tomb. Major portion of the Arab Sarai is today the Industrial Training Institute and is inaccessible to visitors.

Arab Ki Sarai after renovation, By Mohsin Javed

Upper floor of Arab Ki Sarai Gateway after conservation, By Mohsin Javed
It was built to serve as the outstanding entrance to the enclosed garden which was to house the “Sarai” (inn/guesthouse) where would live the 300 craftsmen which the Empress had brought with her from Persia to lend physical form to the conception of the ethereally magnificent mausoleum of her late husband Humayun.

Arab Ki Sarai Gateway, By Mohsin Javed


Arab Ki Sarai after renovation, By Mohsin Javed
The Sarai itself was originally colossal enough to house the hundreds of craftsmen and their families, unfortunately however only the considerably massive gateway and the miserable ruins and outlines of a few of the chambers envisaged alongside its substantial peripheries have survived the relentless ravages of time and nature.

Glazed tilework on Jharokhas, By Mohsin Javed


Brackets of Arab Ki Sarai, By Mohsin Javed
The huge and beautiful gateway, constructed from random rubble masonry layered with slabs of grey Delhi quartzite and red sandstone inlaid with minute traces of flawless white marble, has been restored and maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).

Source: Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative, Pixelated Memories
All Photos © Mohsin Javed
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