Jama Masjid

Jama Masjid was constructed in red sandstone and white marble, with an onion-shaped dome and tapering minarets, an impressive style of Mogul architecture.  It was built in 1650–56 by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahān (1592-1666), a noted patron of Islamic architecture whose most famous work is the Taj Mahal, in Agra.  It is the second-largest mosque on the Indian subcontinent.  

Jama Masjid is Delhi’s principal mosque, the place where the city’s Muslims traditionally gather for Friday communal prayer; Jama Masjid is Arabic for ‘Friday mosque.’ Jama Masjid and its courtyard stand on an outcropping more than 30 steps higher than the street, giving the mosque a commanding view of the surrounding area. The longer name, Masjid-I Jahānnumā, translates as ‘world-reflecting mosque’ or ‘world-displaying mosque’. The mosque was built by a crew of some 5,000 workers.  It contains a room where Shah Jahān installed the footprints of the Holy Prophet – Hazrat Muhammad.