This beautiful, immense mosque was completed in 1571 and contains elements of Persian and Indian design. The main entrance, at the top of a flight of stone steps, is through the spectacular 54m-high Buland Darwaza (Victory Gate), built to commemorate Akbar’s military victory in Gujarat. Inside is the stunning white marble tomb of Sufi saint Shaikh Salim Chishti, where women hoping to have children come to tie a thread to the jalis (carved lattice screens).
The saint's tomb was completed in 1581 and is entered through an original door made of ebony. Inside it are brightly coloured flower murals, while the sandlewood canopy is decorated with mother-of-pearl shell, and the marble jalis are among the finest in India. To the right of the tomb lie the gravestones of family members of Shaikh Salim Chishti. Just east of Shaikh Salim Chishti’s tomb is the red-sandstone tomb of Islam Khan, the final resting place of Shaikh Salim Chishti’s grandson and one-time governor of Bengal.
On the east wall of the courtyard is a smaller entrance to the mosque – the Shahi Darwaza (King’s Gate), which leads to the palace complex.