Emperor Humayun's Garden Tomb

Humayun's Tomb's Entrance

When passing through one of the gates at Humayun's Garden Tomb, Humayun's mausoleum appears like an insurmountable monument. While advancing on one of the four main pathways toward the tomb, a staircase reveals itself in the plinth's center niche. At the top of these stairs is a terrace on which Humayun's mausoleum sits. Humayun's cenotaph can only be accessed by a single entrance in the southern pishtaq of the mausoleum. The jali screens that cover all but one opening on the terrace level of the mausoleum receive much attention by new visitors who wander from one facade opening to another until arriving at the southern end of the terrace. The location of the entrance is only obvious from this side of the terrace. The entrance appears small in the center of an alcove that is as monumental as the iwans that fill the other pishtaqs. The entrance is decorated by six-pointed stellate symbols inlaid in a pair of white spandrels, which are joined by a small circle.