Jami Masjid at Ahmedabad
Jami Masjid At Ahmedabad
- Built by Sultan Ahmed Shah in A.D. 1423.
- Considered to be the high water mark of mosque design on western India.
- Most of the architectural effect is concentrated in the sanctuary.
- The flagged courtyard is 255' X 220'
Sanctuary Facade:
- The architect has combined the two types of sanctuary facades, the screen of arches and the pillared portico, with the screen in the centre and the portico on the wings.
- The juxtaposition of the two elements creates contrast between the volume and strength of the wall surface and the depth and airy lightness of the colonnade.
- The large central archway has large moulded buttresses of minarets on either sides, whose upper parts have now disappeared.
- Two smaller archways are placed on either side of the central one.
- Directly visible through the archway in the shadows is the colonnade of the interior with its engrailed arch springing lightly from its slender columns.
Sanctuary Interior:
- The sanctuary is a hypostyle hall 210' X 95'.
- It consists of around 300 slender pillars, closely set at an average intercolumniation of 5'.
- The columns are symmetrically arranged to form 15 bays across the long axis of the hall, each surmounted by a dome and connected to the next through a columned interspace.
- The central compartment of the nave rises up to 3 storeys, the side aisles are 2 storeys and the rest of the hall is single storeyed.
- The nave is composed of two pillared galleries one above the other. The enclosed triple height space which is overlooked from the galleries is square in plan on the first floor and octagonal on the second and is covered by a dome.
- Each overlooking balcony is provided with an asana or a sloping backed seat as seen in temples.
- Around the exterior of the balconies are pillared verandahs or loggias and in the arcade between the pillars are stone jalis through which the galleries are illuminated.