The Moti Masjid () is a 17th-century historical

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

, not open for worship, inside the

Red Fort The Red Fort, also known as Lal Qila () is a historic Mughal Empire, Mughal fort in Delhi, India, that served as the primary residence of the Mughal emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1639, fo ...

complex in North Delhi,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was built by

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

, damaged during the Siege of Delhi, and subsequently restored by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

. Named for its white marble, the mosque features ornate floral carvings. It is an important example of

Mughal architecture Mughal architecture is the style of architecture developed in the Mughal Empire in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries throughout the ever-changing extent of their empire in the Indian subcontinent. It developed from the architectural styles of ea ...

during Aurangzeb's reign.

History

The Moti Masjid was commissioned by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, shortly after his accession. The purpose was to provide the emperor a mosque for prayer closer to his private chambers within the Red Fort. At the time, the fort did not contain a mosque; the fort's builder and previous occupant, emperor

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

, instead offered congregational prayers at the nearby Jama Masjid. Construction of the Moti Masjid took five years, completing in 1663 CE, at Aurangzeb's personal expense; the court chronicle '' Ma'asir-i-Alamgiri'' describes the cost to be 1 lakh and 60 thousand rupees. Following its construction, Aurangzeb began to offer the ''zuhr'' prayer at the mosque with officials of the state, introducing a new ceremonial practice. In 1857, British soldiers looted the Red Fort, following its capture in the Siege of Delhi. The Moti Masjid in particular had its gilded copper domes stripped by Prize Agents and sold at auction. The looting exposed the domes to the elements, caused them to deteriorate, and rainwater also damaged the ceiling of the prayer hall. The mosque domes were later replaced by the British in white marble. In the 1920s, initiatives by the ASI led to a swelling of tourism at the Red Fort, and the Moti Masjid experienced increased foot traffic. This caused rules and regulations to be put in place so as to have visitors comply with Islamic conduct. In the post-Revolt era, the ASI also raised concerns over British military personnel damaging the marble floors of the mosque. In the modern era, the ASI has closed the mosque to visitors, to avoid damage to the structure.

Architecture

Structure

The Moti Masjid consists of a prayer hall and courtyard, contained in a walled enclosure. The site is small, internally measuring . The compound is raised slightly above ground level and entered from the east, accessed by a staircase. The enclosure walls are made of red sandstone, and are of notable height, obstructing the view of the structures within. The walls also vary in thickness, compensating for the mosque's orientation - the exterior walls align with the axes of the Red Fort, while the interior walls are aligned towards

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

. The courtyard of the mosque is rectangular, and contains a recessed pool. Set at the end of the courtyard is the prayer hall, a three- bayed structure divided into two aisles. The structure also has corridors for use by the ladies of the court. The

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

of the prayer hall features three entrance arches on piers, as well as a curvilinear eave ('' bangla chhajja).'' The mosque building is topped by three pointed domes, sitting on constricted necks, aligned with the arches in the façade. The prayer hall's marble floor is demarcated into rectangles, possibly to mark positions for worshippers.

Stylism

The Moti Masjid most closely resembles the Nagina Masjid, another small-scale palace mosque, built by Aurangzeb's predecessor Shah Jahan in the Agra Fort. Scholar Ebba Koch goes as far as to call it a near-literal copy. Both monuments have a similar plan, elevation, and building material (white marble). However, the Moti Masjid departs from the Nagina Masjid, in its extensive use of ornamentation. Unlike the Nagina Masjid, whose surfaces are plain, the Moti Masjid features a program of ornate floral decoration, executed as marble

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s and

inlay Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with the ...

s. These are found on the mosque's walls, arches, piers, and pendentives. Particularly notable are the ''

mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...

'' (prayer niche) of the mosque, which features vine motifs, and the '' minbar'' (pulpit), sculpted as an '' acanthus'' vine supporting three steps. Such ornamentation stems from the palace architecture of Shah Jahan, reflected in several pavilions of the Red Fort. This is notably contrasted with the religious buildings of Shah Jahan's reign, which were more austere in nature. Dadlani views this as an innovation of Aurangzeb's reign, which also appears on his later imperial mosques. The Moti Masjid is also innovative in what Asher terms its 'spatial tension', achieved by the height of its enclosure walls and its domes; this spatial tension would become a feature of architecture during Aurangzeb's reign. Koch noted that the ostentatious design of the mosque stands in contrast to Aurangzeb's reputation of artistic austerity. She argues that this indicates the emperor's lack of direct involvement in the stylism of the project. On the other hand, Dadlani views the monument as part of Aurangzeb's 'imperial visual program', which emphasized the construction of mosques to portray himself as a pious ruler, but also used ornamentation to recall Shah Jahan's reign, and thereby its political stability.

Gallery

A door in Red Fort of Mughal era.JPG, Bronze main door with floral decoration India-0109 - Flickr - archer10 (Dennis).jpg, Interior of the mosque, with ornate carvings on marble surfaces The Motee Musjid dli A136 cor.jpg, Samuel Bourne,
The Motee Musjid. Delhi. 1351
" 1863–1869, photograph mounted on cardboard sheet

Moti Masjid, Red Fort, Delhi, India.JPG, link=, Courtyard of the mosque, containing a recessed pool Reminiscences of Imperial Delhi Moti Masjid within the Palace.png, Moti Masjid in 1843 with its original gilded

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

domes

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{Mosques in India 1660s establishments in India 1660s establishments in the Mughal Empire 1663 establishments in Asia 17th-century mosques in India Former mosques in India Marble buildings Monuments of National Importance in Delhi Mosque buildings with domes in India Mosque buildings with minarets in India Mosques completed in the 1660s Mosques in Delhi Mughal mosques Red Fort Religious buildings and structures completed in 1663 Stone buildings in India