The Masjid-i Jahān-Numā, commonly known as the Jama Masjid of Delhi, is the largest mosque in India (about 25,000 people can pray in the courtyard at a time). Actually, Jama Masjid is a general term which refers to the main mosque of a town, city or village, and is usually the place of gathering for Eid prayers and Friday prayers. Jama Masjid of Delhi was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan between 1644 and 1656, and was inaugurated by an imam from Bukhara, present-day Uzbekistan. Shah Jahan also built the Taj Mahal, at Agra and the Red Fort in New Delhi, which stands opposite the Jama Masjid.
The architectural plan is similar to that of Badshahi Masjid, built by Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb at Lahore, Pakistan. The mosque has three great gates, four towers and two 40 m high minarets constructed of strips of red sandstone and white marble. It is built on a red sandstone porch, which is about 9.1m from ground level and spreads over 1200 square metre. The dome is flanked by two lofty minarets which are 40m high and consists of 130 steps, longitudinally striped by marble and red sandstone. The minarets consists of five storeys, each with a protruding balcony. The adjoining edifices are filled with calligraphy. The first three storeys of the minarets is made of red sandstone, the fourth of marble and the fifth of sandstone.
About the stamps
All the stamps are part of the series Legendary Heroines of India, about which I wrote here.
References
Jama Masjid, Delhi - Wikipedia
Sender: Kamran
Sent from ??? (??? / India), on 07.11.2014
Lindo!
ReplyDelete(very beautiful in portuguese)