After losing his Agra throne in 1540, the Mughal Emperor Humayun (together with his wife and few followers) seek refuge to present day Pakistan. Forced to retreat even further, he went to present day Iran. There he was impressed by the architectural work of his ancestors. With the Persian’s help he fought back and regained control over parts of present day Afganistan, Pakistan and, 1555, of Northern India. He died in 1556 and in 1562 his wife began work on his tomb, inspired from Persian architecture. This was the first of the Mughal buildings in India, preceding, among others, his son Akbar mausoleum and his son’s wife mausoleum – the Taj Mahal. Other structures followed, so that upon the discovery by the British in the 1860’s around 160 tombs were located in the Delhi area
Various stages in tomb’s recent history
Simmetry is one of the features of the Mughal architecture. Also unusual, the Crescent together with what appears to be David’s star (but it’s actually Shatkona, a hindu symbol)
Restration work in progress
And the rectangular garden, also common for the Mughal architecture