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

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 medieva ...

, Delhi, 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 administrative ...

in 1311 and made of red sandstone, it is a square domed gatehouse with arched entrances and houses a single chamber. It has a special significance in Indo-Islamic architecture as the first Indian monument to be built using Islamic methods of construction and ornamentation and is a World Heritage Site.

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 Qutb complex. In 1993, the Darwaza and the other monuments of the complex were designated a World Heritage Site.

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 sandstone and white marble, 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 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 sandstone 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 the ...

on the walls of the Darwaza. The arches are horseshoe 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