Shish Gumbad, Lodhi Garden, New Delhi, India
Shish Gumbad (Glazed dome) is thought to have been constructed between 1489 and 1517. The architecture is a blend of Hindu and Islamic architecture. It has vivid blue tiles that adorn its facade. These glossy blue tiles are rare in medieval structures and must have been difficult to produce and, hence, expensive back then. The conjecture is that once the top surface of the tomb was covered with such tiles. Shish Gumbad houses tombs of an unknown family that may have been part of the Lodhi family and a part of Sikander Lodi's court. However, some historians believe that the tomb is of Bahlul Lodi, who was chief of the Afghan Lodi tribe and founder and Sultan of the Lodi dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. How the history of actual human beings, Sultans and Generals, intertwine with the stories these structures hide, of mysteries indecipherable, of Dolores forgotten, of stories untold!
