Gardens are always lucrative. Considering the nature involved and placed in a planned way on a piece of land occupied by humans is best way to consume the space.
Pre pandemic, I made an effort to visit famous Lodhi Garden in Central Delhi. Let's make a virtual tour of the Garden with historic importance.
Stating the history, Actually this comes under Lodhi Dynasty with Mughal architectural tombs and mosque present in the garden which is just an ornamental structure now and are used for wedding and other professional photoshoots.
After opting for architectural studies after school I made a point on visiting every structure in my city prior to going elsewhere which bought my friends and I to this famous garden, a couple of years ago.
This massive 90 acers of park was established way back in 1936. Now we use it as a public park and is maintained by the government.
This map basically describes everything inside.
Starting with Tomb of Muhammad Shah/ Bada Gumbad. It has certain features which are quite peculiar.
It actually was first of its' kind in Delhi due to it's semi circular dome and square plan.
It might visualise from outside that it has 2 stories but it isn't it's just a single storied tall around 28 m in height which is actually massive with large plinth level of 4 meters in height. How huge and magnificent. There also lies a mosque behind this huge structure as one could see as shown on the left side in the picture below.
It wasn't ornamented dome be it interior or exterior it just holds a historical significance and may be you do not know but the leaves structure is carved in relief below the dome and the arches which the entrance door had was typical Indian corbels.
As I mentioned about the structure which used to be mosque, has Arabic inscriptions on the ceilings and the walls inside the structure.
Taking a turn according to the map, the amazing landscape is what one witnesses and why people come here everyday in huge amount.
One can witness people enjoying the gardens, since I can show certain chunks through the pictures. The pathways were perfectly planned with gardens being maintained from rainwater harvested water which had underground tanks , I will show the glimpse in further pictures. Many tourists were attracted to the place .since this was pre pandemic time, we saw three photoshoots set in different places in the park and those were all like pre wedding photoshoots. people weren't disturbing them as they are used to and gave them personal space being uninterrupted by public passing by the shoots seemly went smooth.
There was a chunk of land which was fenced and specially kept for pretty flowers to flourish!
With variety of plants, flowers, shrubs, trees and grass the landscape is beautifully made and maintained. One could see huge chunk of evergreen trees which makes the place look like jungle but they are just on the periphery of another part of the park.
Strolling around the park, clicking pictures, chit -chatting with friends, clicking their pictures and asking for some bribe in return, we all spent a good day there.
So, our next stop was Sheesh Gumbad
Having somewhat similar appearance and architectural values. Sheesh gumbad had few of notable differences which we noticed.
Visually octagonal minarets have somewhat projected horizontal cornice which I found absent in the bada gumbad.
Okay the name sheesh means glass. but I couldn't relate why it was named so , but later on some internet research I found out that there were glass tiles all over sheesh gumbad do not know how true it is but that's what I found.
Moving forward we had an encounter with last historical structure-
I wanted to show the beautiful Tomb of Sikandar Lodhi but it was closed due to some restoration work may be next time I 'll show you'll the visuals of the tomb. But we could linger around Athpulla and wall near Sikandar Lodhi tomb.
Doesn't it look like a mini fort?
Oh it does and it was beautiful , Now I know why many shooting took place here. It's just clean, aesthetically appealing and strong structure for a layman's eye.
With rood kiosk (Chattris) the high elevated entrance was ornamented. This was somewhat the periphery of the tomb and we couldn't get inside due to then ongoing restorations I already stated.
Turning our way to the landscapes we encounter many sculptures within the park which were exceptionally beautiful.
The old and bold planter looked vibrant with the beautiful flowers growing in it.
All these through stones and how creative?
The sculpture gave a different vibe to the entire landscape.
Enroute the lake!
The pathways were not similar. Every pathway had little shrub along side but the materials were different for the pathways. Somewhere cobblestones were found , cemented pathways, rarely sandstone pathways.
Showing vividness in shape and materials of the pathways let's jump into final segment and my favourite too that is the beautiful lake!
With plenty of such showers in the lake, It might seem to be small but let' have a closer look-
That is such a powerful fountain! Isn't it? All the surrounding area of the lake was rubble and huge trees. There were also palm trees planted, Although they do not grow here in the soil of Delhi but they could be transported easily.
The view is uncanny, I felt at peace sitting there on the bridge over the lake.
There were quite a few people around the lake as compared to rest of the park, one of the reason could be that the lake was at the far end of the main entrance and taking in account the 90 acers of the land. The scarcity becomes quite obvious.
In above mentioned picture , at extreme right. a rectangular elevated structure could be spotted . That is actually what I was talking about initially here. That's for all the mechanical stuff in the garden.
We had a blast roaming around, seeking inspirations for our then projects. gazing at the fresh and beautiful nature and enjoying our time over there. This made me think again for a decision I took two years ago and haven't implemented. That is of doing masters in landscape designing after graduating in architecture. ANYWAYS,
Have you been to such landmark garden yet?
All the images belongs to me.
