Fatehpur Sikri: An Emperor’s City, a Living Place of Faith

An imperial city on a ridge

In the second half of the sixteenth century, Emperor Akbar developed Fatehpur Sikri on a ridge west of Agra. From 1571 until the imperial court moved to Lahore in 1585, the city served as a Mughal capital. Its broad courtyards, gateways, residential complexes and places of assembly convey an ambitious attempt to shape political, domestic and religious life in stone.

A capital shaped by exchange

Fatehpur Sikri brought together Mughal imperial planning with building traditions from across the subcontinent and beyond. Red sandstone lends the ensemble a distinctive unity, while carved columns, screened windows, open pavilions and shaded arcades create spaces of remarkable variety. The architecture rewards attention to the details as much as to its monumental scale.

The presence of a Sufi saint

The city’s history is closely associated with the revered Sufi Shaikh Salim Chishti, whom Akbar visited at Sikri. His white marble tomb stands within the great courtyard of the Jama Masjid. Against the surrounding red sandstone, its pale stone and finely carved screens create a striking visual centre. People continue to visit the shrine, connecting imperial history with an enduring tradition of devotion.

Gateways and public spaces

Jama Masjid, among India’s largest historic mosques, forms a major part of the complex. The towering Buland Darwaza commemorates Akbar’s Gujarat campaign, while the palace precinct includes the Diwan-i-Am public audience space, the more intimate Diwan-i-Khas and the multi-storey Panch Mahal. These buildings invite different experiences of scale: the vastness of ceremonial space, the rhythms of colonnades and the craftsmanship of individual surfaces.

A capital that changed course

The imperial court’s departure did not erase the city’s significance. Fatehpur Sikri remains an exceptional record of Mughal urban design and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986. Its mosque and shrine also sustain a living religious dimension within the historic ensemble.

Through the photographs

The Everyday Lives photographs follow people moving through monumental entrances and arcades, the play of light across sandstone and the white marble tomb within the mosque precinct. Such moments place human scale beside imperial ambition. They offer ways of looking at Fatehpur Sikri as a lived place, with the past visibly present in contemporary encounters.