Moti Masjid Delhi

When we talk about the Moti Masjid or the Pearl Mosque, the first image in our mind is a small boxed mosque inside the Red Fort, which we can never see from inside. But the fact is that the last Mughal emperor constructed another Moti Masjid in Mehrauli. This mosque was built as a private chapel of the king and his family. This mosque was built in 1659 AD at a cost of 160,000 rupees. It is located in the west of Hammam, the woman of Harem was also allowed to pray in it. There is a small door with copper plates decorated in the main entrance of the eastern part. Originally, there was a door in the northern wall for women, but during the repair, after 1857, it was closed. At that time the archaeologists were not able to restore the original dome with the copper plates but did good work to restore the Piatra dura (embossed artwork on the walls). There is also a small bath pool (Wooju-Khana) in the middle of the courtyard.
The Moti Masjid of Zafar Palace in Mehrauli is not as beautiful or as big as the mosque of the Red Fort, but it provides the same purpose of giving place to pray for the royal family. It has the same three domes structure and the marble on the floor is in the pattern of the prayer mats. The beautiful thing about this mosque is that it is in the immediate west of the Dargah of Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (RA). A small wall distincts the courtyard of the mosque and the dargah. This mosque was built around 1707 by the last Mughal emperors. Only one tower of this mosque is alive in the shattered kingdom, and now it is to support external scaffolds to avoid its collapse.
We can see the tombs of Emperor Akbar Shah II, and the empty place, where Bahadur Shah Zafar wanted to be buried, can also be seen. A mosque door opens inside the dargah complex, and it is usually kept locked. This palace (Zafar Mahal) was built with the Dargah of Hazrat Kaki when Akbar Shah II started the famous Sair-e-Gulfarosha’N. With the other nobles of the Red Fort, the royal family used to live in this palace during the 7 days of the festivals

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