Humayun's Tomb

Humayun's Tomb in Nizamuddin, Delhi, is the first of the great Mughal garden-tombs and one of the most influential buildings in Indian architecture. Commissioned in 1565 by Empress Bega Begum in memory of her husband, the second Mughal emperor Humayun, and completed around 1572, it introduced to India the Persian Charbagh — a four-quartered paradise garden divided by water channels and walkways — set around a monumental domed mausoleum of red sandstone inlaid with white and black marble.

• Its scale, symmetry, and double dome made it the direct architectural ancestor of the Taj Mahal, built some eighty years later, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
• The walled complex is far more than a single tomb.
• Within and around the gardens stand the elegant tomb of Isa Khan (older than Humayun's Tomb itself), the Barber's Tomb (Nai ka Gumbad), the blue-tiled Nila Gumbad, and the grand western gateway.
• Decades of careful restoration have returned the gardens to their intended form, with fountains, fruit trees, and crisp stone causeways, making the complex one of the calmest and most beautiful heritage spaces in the capital.
• For vegetarian travellers, the tomb sits beside Sunder Nursery — a restored 16th-century heritage park with its own café — and a short ride from Khan Market's many pure-vegetarian and veg-friendly restaurants, so it is easy to pair the monument with an excellent meal.
• The gardens are pram- and family-friendly, and the wide lawns are ideal for slow, shaded exploration.