Humayun's Tomb
UNESCO World Heritage Site: Humayun'S Tomb, Delhi (1993) · New Delhi, Delhi
The tomb of the second Mughal emperor, completed around 1570, and the first great garden tomb in India: the building that set the pattern the Taj Mahal perfected eighty years later. It was commissioned by Humayun's widow, Bega Begum, and designed by a Persian architect, so it brings the double dome, the octagonal plan and the four-part charbagh garden of Persia to red sandstone trimmed with white marble. Many Mughal royals were later buried in its chambers, which is why it was called the dormitory of the Mughals, and it was here that the last Mughal emperor took refuge in 1857 before his capture. A long restoration by the Aga Khan Trust, completed in the 2010s, brought the gardens and water channels back to life, and the neighbouring Sunder Nursery, a restored Mughal park, is one of the loveliest green spaces in Delhi. It is a World Heritage Site, far calmer than the Taj, and in the late afternoon the sandstone glows. The Nizamuddin Dargah, with its Thursday qawwali, is across the road, and the site sits in a cluster of older tombs worth exploring.
Mathura Road, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi, Delhi, 110013, India
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED; confirm before planning. The usual ASI pattern is sunrise to sunset, EVERY DAY including Mondays, with ticket sales ending about half an hour before closing. The interpretation museum may keep shorter hours than the gardens. Sunder Nursery keeps its own hours from its own gate, usually morning to early evening. Nizamuddin qawwali is on Thursday evenings after sunset, running an hour or more. The traps: arriving too late for the ticket counter at sunset, winter smog, and Thursday crowds in the Nizamuddin lanes.