History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c26.s2.45

v2.c26.s2.45

This building, though small—it is only 56 ft. 9 in. square externally, and with an internal apartment only 34 ft. 6 in. in plan—marks the culminating point of this Pathân style in Delhi. Nothing so complete had been done before, nothing so ornate was attempted by them afterwards. In the provinces wonderful buildings were erected between this period and the Mughal conquest, but in the capital their edifices were more marked by solemn gloom and nakedness than by ornamentation or any of the higher graces of architectural art. Externally it is a good deal damaged, but its effect is still equal to that of any building of its class in India. It was copied, with some modifications, in the gateway to the fine Khairpur Mosque, near Safdar Khân’s tomb, erected under Sikandar Lodî in 1494.