1664 INDIA (National Capital Territory of Delhi) - Jama Masjid in Delhi

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.

1617 INDIA (National Capital Territory of Delhi) - Red Fort Complex (UNESCO WHS)

1617 The Red Fort Complex - The Lahore Gate

The Red Fort Complex, now in the centre of Delhi, was built in 1648 as the palace fort of Shahjahanabad - the new capital of the fifth Mughal Emperor of India, Shah Jahan. Named for its massive enclosing walls of red sandstone, it is adjacent to an older fort, the Salimgarh, built by Islam Shah Suri in 1546, with which it forms the Red Fort Complex. The private apartments consist of a row of pavilions connected by a continuous water channel, known as the Nahr-i-Behisht (Stream of Paradise). The Red Fort is considered to represent the zenith of Mughal creativity which, under the Shah Jahan, was brought to a new level of refinement.

1354 INDIA (National Capital Territory of Delhi) - Humayun's Tomb (UNESCO WHS)

This tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun is of particular cultural significance as it was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, and inspired several major architectural innovations, culminating in the construction of the Taj Mahal, a century later.. Located in Nizamuddin East, close to the Dina-panah citadel, it was commissioned by Humayun's first wife Bega Begum in 1569-1570, and designed by the Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas. Besides the main tomb, several smaller monuments dot the pathway leading up to it, from the main entrance in the West, including one that even pre-dates the main tomb itself, by twenty years; it is the tomb complex of Isa Khan Niyazi, an Afghan noble in Sher Shah Suri's court of the Suri dynasty, who fought against the Mughals, constructed in 1547.

1352 INDIA (National Capital Territory of Delhi) - Qutb Minar and its Monuments (UNESCO WHS)

Located in the middle of the eastern part of Lalkot, the first of the seven cities of Delhi, established in 1060, the tower of Qutb Minar is 72.5m high, tapering from 2.75m in diameter at its peak to 14.32m at its base, and alternating angular and rounded flutings, covered with intricate carvings and verses from the Qur'an. Construction was started in 1192 by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, was carried on by his successor, Iltutmish (1211-1236), being enlarged by Alauld-Din Khalji (1296-1316). In 1368, Firoz Shah Tughlaq constructed the fifth and the last storey. Numerous inscriptions in Parso-Arabic and Nagari characters in different sections reveal the history of its construction. The minar has been damaged by earthquakes and lightning strikes on several occasions but has been repaired and renovated by various rulers. The surrounding archaeological area contains funerary buildings, notably the magnificent Alai-Darwaza Gate, the masterpiece of Indo-Muslim art (built in 1311), and two mosques, including the Quwwatu'l-Islam (at the foot of the tower), the oldest in India, built of materials reused from some 20 Brahman temples.

0300 INDIA (National Capital Territory of Delhi) - Bahá'í House of Worship at New Delhi (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

I first read about the Bahá'í Faith about 20 years ago, in a book of my eminent compatriot, Mircea Eliade. I found it an interesting subject, but not much else, because, frankly, I think that the syncretism is a beneficial manifestation in arts, but not in religion. For the Bahá'í, the religious history is a sequence of divine messengers (Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and others), each of them laying the foundation of a religion suited to the needs of the time and the capacity of the people, the final purpose being to transform the character of humankind and develop moral and spiritual qualities.