It was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan between 1650 and 1656 at a cost of one million rupees, and was inaugurated by Imam Syed Abdul Ghafoor Shah Bukhari from Bukhara. The mosque was completed in 1656 AD with three great gates and two 40 metres high minarets constructed with strips of red sandstone and white marble. The courtyard can accommodate more than 25000 people. There are three domes on the terrace which are surrounded by the two minarets. On the floor, a total of 899 black borders are marked for worshippers. The architectural plan of Badshahi Masjid, built by Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb at Lahore is similar to the Jama Masjid.
The mosque and Red Fort were planned to be a larger planned city named Shahjahanabad. The mosque is considered as the best among all mosques built during the Mughal Empire as it has the best mixture of marble and limestone.The mosque has three great gates, four towers and two 40-metre tall minarets constructed of strips of red sandstone and smooth white marble. The northern gate has 39 steps and the southern side has 33 steps. The eastern gate was the royal entrance and has 35 steps.Out of all these gateways, the eastern one, which was used by the emperors, remains closed during weekdays. The mosque is built on a red sandstone porch, which is about 30 feet (9.1 m) from ground level and spreads over 1200 square metres. The dome is flanked by two lofty minarets which are 130 feet (40 m) high and consists of 130 steps, longitudinally striped with marble and red sandstone.The minarets consist of five storeys, each with a protruding balcony. The adjoining edifices are filled with calligraphy. The first three storeys of the minarets are made of red sandstone, the fourth of marble and the fifth of sandstone.
The courtyard can accommodate 25,000 worshippers and occupies 408 square feet.The mosque is about 261 feet (80 m) long and 90 feet (27 m) wide. The prayer hall measures 61 metres in length and 27.5 metres in breadth. It is made up of high cusped arches and marble domes. The cabinet located in the north gate has a collection of relics of Muhammad – the Quran written on deerskin, a red beard-hair of the prophet, his sandals and his footprints embedded in a marble block.
The floor plan of the mosque is similar to that of the Jama Masjid of Agra.It is covered with white and black ornamented marble to look like a Muslim prayer mat. Beside it, a thin black border measuring 3 feet (0.91 m) long and 1.5 feet (0.46 m) wide is marked for the Muslim worshippers. There are 899 total such boxes. The architecture and plan of Badshahi Masjid, which was built by Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb in Lahore, is closely related to that of the mosque. Before the Revolt of 1857 there was a madrasa near the southern end of the mosque, which was destroyed during the revolt.
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