Jama Masjid

The mosque is set on a natural rise and then lifted further by three broad flights of steps, so that arriving is a climb out of the bazaar into open sky. The courtyard holds twenty-five thousand people. Three marble domes with black inlay sit above the prayer hall, flanked by two minarets of alternating red sandstone and marble, and the proportions are calibrated for a crowd rather than for a photograph.

Its name means the mosque commanding a view of the world, and the claim is literal: from the top of the southern minaret you can read the whole of Shahjahanabad, the Red Fort to the east, and on a clear winter morning the ridge beyond. Down at ground level the steps are the real institution — kite sellers, biryani shops, pigeon fanciers and photographers work them from dawn, and the mosque functions as the front porch of an entire neighbourhood.

Chawri Bazar, Yellow Line, is the closest station, about ten minutes' walk through the bazaar.

There is no dedicated visitor parking; the surrounding lanes are dense market streets, and most people arrive on foot, by cycle-rickshaw, or park well outside and walk in.

Nothing inside the mosque itself; the lanes around it, especially toward Matia Mahal, hold some of Old Delhi's oldest kitchens.

Closed to sightseers during the five prayer times. Dress modestly; robes are lent at the gate, and shoes are left with an attendant.