Description of the attraction
A real "ghost town" called Fatehpur Sikri is located in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in the north of the country. It was built in the early 1500s by order of Emperor Maharana Sangram Singh, better known as Rana Sanga near the ancient city of Sikri, and was originally called Sikrigarh. And its new name "Fatehpur", which means "city of victory", he received after the Mughal emperor Akbar recaptured it from Rana Sang.
In 1571, Akbar made Fatehpur Sikri the capital of his state, and began to actively upset it. At that time, many beautiful buildings, palaces and mosques appeared in the city. At the request of the emperor, all of them were made in the Persian style, thus he "paid tribute" to his famous ancestor Tamerlane. But nevertheless, due to the fact that various architects and craftsmen from all over the country took part in the construction, much was brought into the architecture of the city from the culture of India, this is especially noticeable in small details and decorative elements. Almost every building is made of red sandstone, which was very common in the area, but later some buildings were rebuilt using white marble as the main building material. Unfortunately, the status of the capital belonged to the city for a very short time, from 1571 to 1585. Fatehpur Sikri was abandoned due to lack of water.
Fatehpur Sikri is a magnificent place, which is 3 km long and 1 km wide. On three sides, it is surrounded by an 11-kilometer high wall, in which there were only nine gates, and on the fourth side there was a large lake in the time of Akbar. Almost every building in the city is a real work of art. The main building of the city is the palace complex where the emperor lived. It consists of several separate pavilions arranged in a geometrically strict order. You can also highlight Buland Darvaza - the "gate" to the city with a height of 54 meters, Jama Masjid, or the Jami Mosque, the tomb of Salim Chisti - a Sufi saint, after whose blessing, it is believed, Akbar had a son Salim, better known in history as Jahangir, Divan -i-Aam - a hall for public meetings, Divan-i-Khas - a hall for private meetings, the beautiful palace of Mariam-uz-Zamani - the private chambers of the great emperor's wife, and many others.
