Ala'i Darwaza () is the southern gateway of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque in

Qutb complex The Qutb Minar complex are monuments and buildings from the Delhi Sultanate at Mehrauli in Delhi, India. Construction of the Qutub Minar "victory tower" in the complex, named after the religious figure Sufi Saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, ...

Mehrauli Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in South Delhi, a district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is close to Gurgaon and next to Vasant Kunj. History Mehrauli is one of the seven mediev ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, India. Built by Sultan

Alauddin Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrativ ...

in 1311 and made of red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, it is a square domed gatehouse with arched entrances and houses a single chamber. It has a special significance in

Indo-Islamic architecture Indo-Islamic architecture is the architecture of the Indian subcontinent produced by and for Islamic patrons and purposes. Despite an initial Arab presence in Sindh, the development of Indo-Islamic architecture began in earnest with the establ ...

as the first Indian monument to be built using Islamic methods of construction and ornamentation and is a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Background

The Alai Darwaza was built by Sultan

of the Khalji dynasty in 1311. It was a part of his plan to extend the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque on four sides. Although he planned to construct four gates, only the Alai Darwaza could be completed as he died in 1316. It serves as the southern gateway of the mosque. It is located at the southern part of the

. In 1993, the Darwaza and the other monuments of the complex were designated a

Architecture

The Alai Darwaza is made up of a single hall whose interior part measures and exterior part measures . It is tall and the walls are thick. The gatehouse, from 1311, still shows a cautious approach to the new technology, with very thick walls and a shallow dome, only visible from a certain distance or height. Bold contrasting colours of masonry, with red

and white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

, introduce what was to become a common feature of Indo-Islamic architecture, substituting for the polychrome tiles used in Persia and Central Asia. The pointed arches come together slightly at their base, giving a mild

horseshoe arch The horseshoe arch (; Spanish: "arco de herradura"), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is an emblematic arch of Islamic architecture, especially Moorish architecture. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form. Hi ...

effect, and their internal edges are not cusped but lined with conventionalized "spearhead" projections, possibly representing lotus buds. Net, stone

openwork Openwork or open-work is a term in art history, architecture and related fields for any technique that produces decoration by creating holes, piercings, or gaps that go right through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, l ...

screens, are introduced here; they already had been long used in temples. The height of the dome is . It is the first true dome built in India, as previous attempts to construct a true dome were not successful. The entire Darwaza is made up of red

with white coloured marbles inlaid on the exterior walls. There is extensive

Arabic calligraphy Arabic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy based on the Arabic alphabet. It is known in Arabic as ''khatt'' ( ar, خط), derived from the word 'line', 'design', or 'construction'. Kufic is the oldest form of th ...

on the walls of the Darwaza. The arches are

horseshoe A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...

shaped, the first time such arches were used in India. The façade has pre-Turkish carvings and patterns. The windows have marble lattices. Surface decoration consists of interweaved floral tendrils and is repeated with a symmetry on three doorways.

Gallery

File:Alai Darwaza, Qutub Complex, Delhi in the 1870s.jpg, Alai Darwaza in 1870s File:Qutub Minar Alai Darwaza Imam Zamin Delhi India - panoramio.jpg, Alai Darwaza with the Tomb of Imam Zamin at the foreground File:Alai Darwaza-Qutub-Complex.jpg, Doorway of the darwaza File:Window at Alai Darwaza, Qutb complex.jpg, Window of the darwaza

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alai Darwaza Alauddin Khalji Buildings and structures in Delhi Architecture of the Khalji dynasty Mehrauli Tourist attractions in Delhi World Heritage Sites in India