The other day Adam and I were looking at Google Maps trying to find a specific place when we saw something kind of strange on the map. You can see it in the bottom right of this picture - it looks like a strange checkerboard...
At first I thought it was a mistake on Google maps (an area where they couldn't take a picture of or something) but then we found out it was a place called Khirki Masjid (Window Mosque). It's really close to the hospital, so we thought we'd check it out after an appointment the other day. You have to park on the main road area and walk through the Khirki Village to get to it. Tucked deep into this village is the mosque. Walking up to the gate we saw buffalo, dogs, cats, birds and heard a Peacock (although it was REALLY close by, we couldn't find it)...
This mosque is really unique and is really old. It was built between 1351-1354. It was built during the Tughlaq Dynasty by Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul Tilangani, who was the Prime Minister at the time. He built 7 mosques that were really unique - this mosque included. He is very interesting. People say that the reason he was so interested in building mosques was because he was a Hindu that became a Muslim and wanted to prove himself true to Islam. This mosque is unique because most mosques have an open courtyard without a roof and this one has a crazy checkered roof!
This mosque is deserted! It's considered a historical place, so people aren't allowed to worship there anymore and the only people that would go here are school groups (rarely) and tourists (even more rare). When we walked it we notice that some of the areas were really dark. It was pretty crazy looking inside. On the far left we heard a lot of commotion. We weren't sure of what we were hearing. At first we thought it was rats (and you know how much we like rats)...
Now, I've lightened the picture above and cropped it a bit to show what we saw...
BATS!!! TONS of BATS!! it was crazy! The whole area was full of bats!! There were thousands of them! it was so cool! Aashini (our daughter that loves snakes) loved the bats! She was so excited and kept pointing and saying: "bat!! bat!!" And... in case you're wondering, yes, we do know that bats can have rabies - we didn't get too close (for too long anyway) :)
It's a really neat old mosque with a really neat history. If you're into architecture it's actually a very important place. It has been considered a precursor to Mughal architecture - pretty cool!
The architectural society of our country has been working to restore a lot of these old monuments. The problem is, many of the people doing the restoration have gotten lazy. In case you're interested, the mortar used for the restoration is supposed to be 33% lime, 66% sand but instead, it has become 50% lime mixed with 50% brick dust and resulting in PINK-looking architecture :)
They have a lot of work to do in one of the back corners where the roof has caved in.
You can see the roof in this close-up from Google Maps (it's the top right corner). Google Maps is cool!
Anyway, it was a really neat place to check out. We had fun exploring :)
Aashini had fun too :)
This mosque is really unique and is really old. It was built between 1351-1354. It was built during the Tughlaq Dynasty by Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul Tilangani, who was the Prime Minister at the time. He built 7 mosques that were really unique - this mosque included. He is very interesting. People say that the reason he was so interested in building mosques was because he was a Hindu that became a Muslim and wanted to prove himself true to Islam. This mosque is unique because most mosques have an open courtyard without a roof and this one has a crazy checkered roof!
This mosque is deserted! It's considered a historical place, so people aren't allowed to worship there anymore and the only people that would go here are school groups (rarely) and tourists (even more rare). When we walked it we notice that some of the areas were really dark. It was pretty crazy looking inside. On the far left we heard a lot of commotion. We weren't sure of what we were hearing. At first we thought it was rats (and you know how much we like rats)...
Now, I've lightened the picture above and cropped it a bit to show what we saw...BATS!!! TONS of BATS!! it was crazy! The whole area was full of bats!! There were thousands of them! it was so cool! Aashini (our daughter that loves snakes) loved the bats! She was so excited and kept pointing and saying: "bat!! bat!!" And... in case you're wondering, yes, we do know that bats can have rabies - we didn't get too close (for too long anyway) :)
It's a really neat old mosque with a really neat history. If you're into architecture it's actually a very important place. It has been considered a precursor to Mughal architecture - pretty cool!
The architectural society of our country has been working to restore a lot of these old monuments. The problem is, many of the people doing the restoration have gotten lazy. In case you're interested, the mortar used for the restoration is supposed to be 33% lime, 66% sand but instead, it has become 50% lime mixed with 50% brick dust and resulting in PINK-looking architecture :)They have a lot of work to do in one of the back corners where the roof has caved in.
You can see the roof in this close-up from Google Maps (it's the top right corner). Google Maps is cool!
Anyway, it was a really neat place to check out. We had fun exploring :)
Aashini had fun too :)
More adventures to come!
Comments
aashini is soooo cute in that last picture!
Aashini is so adorable in that picture with her cute little shoes and pretty dress.