The pink minarets
Above the white domes.
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Taj-ul-Masajid, meaning «Crown of Mosques», is a mosque in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh with room for about 26,000 worshippers, the largest in India. It stands among three bodies of water, marked by two pink minarets and three white domes, and is one of the city's best known landmarks. Nawab Shah Jahan Begum of Bhopal began it in the walled suburb of Shahjahanabad, with sources giving a start date of 1871 or 1887. After her death in 1901 her daughter Sultan Jahan Begum carried on the work. It then stalled until the scholar Imran Khan Nadwi and his brother Salman Khan took it up again, and it was finished in 1958. Today it is also tied to a religious school. From outside you see two soaring pink minarets and a big arched gateway leading to a wide courtyard and a prayer hall of pillars and stone arches. In front lies Motia Talab, which reflects the minarets in the morning and evening light. The building covers about 13,000 square metres, so the hall feels vast even when empty. It stands in the old city and, according to guides, opens from 6 am to 8 pm. Sources differ on whether non-Muslims may enter on Fridays, and some say not, so avoid that day. Wear modest clothes covering arms and legs, women should cover their hair, and shoes come off. The finest view is by the water before sunset.
Above the white domes.
Reflecting the minarets.
Pillars and stone arches.
Shahjahanabad, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Usually yes, dressed modestly, but sources differ about Fridays, so avoid that day.
In 1958, decades after it was begun in the 19th century.