Mosques and Tombs

Jama Masjid
Ahmedabad contains a number of architectural monuments of historical importance. The Jame-Masjid of Ahmedabad is one of the biggest and oldest mosque for Friday Prayers. Built by Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1423, the mosque is located in the centre of the old city. It is one of the finest mosques in India with 260 pillars supporting 15 domes at different elevations. There is a spacious courtyard in marble. The mosque had minarets which were destroyed in an earthquake. The Hindu style of architecture is obviously seen on the walls and the niches of the mosque. 

Rani Rupmati's Mosque

Rani Rupmati's mosque situated north of the city centre, is named after the Hindu wife of Sultan Mahmud Begado. The mosque was built between 1430 and 1440 and represents a harmonious synthesis of Hindu and Muslim styles. It has three domes supported by pillars with the central domes slightly elevated which allows natural light into the mosque.  The mosque lost its minarets in the earthquake of 1818.

Rani Sipri's mosque
This small mosque also known as the Masjid - e- Nagira, or jewel of a mosque, because of its extremely graceful and well executed design. It is another beautiful specimen of Hindu art in a Muslim monument. 

Sidi Saiyad's Mosque 
This elegant  mosque is noted for its twin windows of pierced stone, worked in style of a tree with palm leaves and curving tendrils. A superb and peerless example of delicate carving that transforms stone into filigree. It was constructed by Sidi Saiyad, a slave of Ahmed Shah, and has beautiful carved stone windows depicting the intricate intertwining of the branches of a tree. Wooden models of these windows, a fine example of Indo-Sarcenic architecture are kept in the New York  and Kensington  museums.

Sidi Bashirs mosque

One of the most popular monuments in  Ahemdabad  is the Sidi Bashirs mosque, out side the Sarangpur gate, known as the mosque with shaking minarets or Jhulta minars . Each minaret of the mosque has three storeys, girdled  by carved stone balconies, balanced  and delicate. The style is a complete innovation. The master  craftsmen  of the period managed to design them in such a way that  they respond to vibration is communicated  to the other via a stone bridge  joining both .The massive earth quake of 2001 had an impact on the monument.

Tombs of Ahmed Shah and His Queens
The tomb( Badshah-no Hajiro) of Ahmed Shah; the founder of the city, situated just outside the east gate of the Jama Masjid, is square in shape with porticos on each side and has perforated stone windows. Women are not allowed into the central chamber. Opposite the Hajiro, across the main road is the Rani-no Hajiro where the queens of subsequent Sultans were buried.

Ahmed Shah's Mosque
Dating from 1414, this was one of the earliest mosques in the city and was probably built on the site of a Hindu temple, using parts of that temple in its construction. It is to be south-west of the Bhadra Fort. The front of the mosque is now a garden.

Raj Babri Mosque
The Raj Babri Mosque, south-east of the railway in the suburb of Gomtipur, also has shaking minarets. 

The Roza of Sarkhej, in a suburb of Ahmedabad, contains the tomb of the Sultan Mahmud Begado. The adjoining tomb of Ahmed Khattu Gang Baksh, a Muslim saint, who helped Ahmed Shah to build the city of Ahmedabad, has a great central dome and a shrine with finely carved brass lattice work.

The Roza of Shah Alam is another monument built in memory of the equally important Muslim saint, Shah Alam. The Roza is supposed to have been built by the brother of the Moghul empress, Noor Jahan, the consort of Jahangir. The complex of the Roza is said to contain the Footprints of the Prohpet, in marble.

Bhadra Fort and Teen Darwaja
Bhadra Fort was built by the city's founder, Ahmed Shah, in 1411 and later named after the goddess Bhadra, an incarnation of Kali. There were royal palaces and a garden inside the fort. It now houses government offices. To the east of the fort stands the triple gateway or Teen Darwaja, from which sultans used to watch processions from the palace to the Jama Masjid. The royal entrance is triple arched and richly carved. 

Huthising Temple
Apart from the Muslim  monuments, Ahmedbad contains a number of Hindu and Jain temples. The Jain shrine, known as the Huthising  temple, is one of them. This temple  was constructed by Shri Kesarising  Huthising  in 1848 and is dedicated to Dharmanath, the 15th Jain Tirtankra. The main temple is surrounded by 52 small temples.

Kankaria Lake
South -east of the city, this circular artificial lake, with an island summer palace was constructed in 1451by Sultan Qutub-ud-Din. There's  a huge zoo and children's park by the lake, and the Ghatamendal pavilion in the centre houses an aquarium.

Narayan Temple
Enclosed in a large courtyard, it dates from 1850. To the south of this Hindu Temple are the nine tombs known as the Nau Gaz Pir, or Nine Yard Saints.

Shahi Bag

Shahi Bag (the royal garden), now housing the State Governer, once  formed part of an extensive  garden. The garden with royal palaces and a wall surrounding them was constructed by the great builder, Shah Jahan  the palace is also associated with the poet  Rabindranath Tagore  who as a boy stayed here with his elder  brother ,before leaving  his famous story "The hungry  stones "(Kshudhit Pashan) 

Sabarmathi Ashram
Sabarmathi Ashram, 7km from the centre town, on the west bank of the Sabarmati River. It was from here, in 1930, that the Mahatma began his famous 'Dandi March' to the sea to protest against the Salt Tax imposed by the British. His ashram was founded in 1915 and still makes handicrafts, handmade paper and spinning wheels. The Gandhi Ashram has a memorial centre, library and a Sound-and-Light (Son et Lumiere) spectacle to offer to its visitors. There's also a bookshop selling books by and about Mahatma. The small house in the Ashram  where Mahatma Gandhi lived 'Hridaya Kunj' is preserved as a national monument. The ashram is open from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm. 

Museums

Calico Museum
The excellent Calico Museum of Textiles, is one of the finest textile museums in the world constructed in 1949. It houses the finest fabrics spun, woven, printed and painted in different parts of India during past five centuries. Also on display are old weaving machines. The museum is in Sarabhai House, a former mansion in the Shahi Bagh Gardens. Museum closed on Tuesdays.

Institute of Indology
Located near the Gujarat University campus, the museum has an important collection of illustrated manuscripts and miniatures and one of the finest collections relating to Jainism in India. It is open daily from 11.30 am to 5.30pm except Sunday.

Hussain-Doshi's Gufa
Located in the campus of the centre for Environment Planning and Technology, this gallery houses the collaborative efforts of artist M.F. Hussain and architect B.V. Doshi where art and architecture fuse together and complement each other magnificently.

NC Mehta Museum of Miniatures
It has excellent examples of the various schools of Indian miniature painting. The building was designed by Le Corbusier, the famous architect.
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 9 to 11am and 4 to 7pm.

Shreyas Folk Museum
It is about 2.5km west of Sabarmati in the suburb of Ambavadi, displays the folk arts and crafts of Gujarat. It is open daily from 9am to noon, and 3 to 5 pm except Wednesday.

Utensils Museum
There's curious collection of cooking utensils in this museum. Items include nutcrackers, knives, cooking vessels and various other utensils. The museum is open daily from 10.30 pm.

Places Around Ahmedabad

Batwa
Batwa, 10km south-east of Ahmedabad, the Suburb of Batwa has tombs of a noted Muslim saint and the sain't son. Batwa also has an important mosque.

Adalaj Wav
Adalaj Wav, 19km north of Ahmedabad, Adalaj Wav is one of the finest of the Gujarati step wells with carvings depicting intricate motifs of flowers and birds. It was built by Queen Rudabai in 1499 and provided a cool and secluded retreat during the hot summer months. The entire structure is underground and it has storeys one above the other and chambers one behind the other.

Cambay
The old seaport of Ahmedabad is 92km to the south-west , at the northern end of the Gulf of Cambay. At the height of Muslim Power in Gujarat, the entire region was known as Cambay and when the first ambassadors arrived from England in 1583, they bore letters from Queen Elizabeth addressed to Akbar, the 'King of Cambay'.

Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary
Nal Sarovar (116Km) is a natural lake, about 64 Km away from Ahmedabad where different varieties of migratory birds of various breeds, flock and rest in winter months. (November to February). The bird life in Gujarat is rich in winter when the local residential forms are augmented by a large number of species coming from far off places. Such birds include rosy pelicans, flamingoes, white storks, a variety of ducks including the Brahmany duck from Tibet, Saras cranes, herons, avocets, curlews etc.

Lothal
About 85km south-west of Ahmedabad, towards Bhavnagar, Lothal is the name given to a mound near Saragwala, a village in Ahmedabad district. It is of great interest to archaeologists as the city which stood here 4500 years ago was a Harappan settlement. The excavations at the site have brought to light a well-planned city with rows of houses and a scientific drainage system. All the discoveries prove that the city must have been a commercial centre and a part carrying on commerce with the hinterland as well as foreign countries. Harappans might have come of this part of India and proceeded farther inland. While the Harappan civilization came to an end in Punjab, it continued for about 500 years more in Gujarat.

The name Lothal actually means Mound of the Dead in Gujarati.