Art & Architecture

The Jamia Masjid in Srinagar was built by Sultan Sikander Shah Kashmiri (RA) in 1394 AD. He was the father of Sultan Zain-ul Aabdin Badshah. The Mosque meas-ures 381 ft x 384 ft and the built-in area of this Masjid is 1,46,000 sq ft. There are majestic 378 wooden deodar pillars supporting the wooden ceiling with 346 pillars of 21 ft high and 5 ft girth and 32 pillars of 48 ft high and 6 ft girth. There is a fountain measuri-ng 33 ft x 34 ft. The Jamia Masjid can accommodate 33,333 people and the pulpit (mahrab) has been decora-ted with precious granite engraved with the 99 attribu-tes of Almighty Allah.


After three devastating fires, the Jamia Masjid was renovated by Sultan Hassan Shah in 1480 AD, Jahangir Shah Abul Muzaffar in 1620 and Aurangzeb Aalamgir Shah in 1672. The chief architect of this mosque was Syed Sadruddin Qurasani.

More than 160 masterpieces displayed at a London exhibition have taken the breath of art critics away and left them marveling at the beauty and richness of the Islamic art. “My thoughts turned immediately to the magnificent collection of Islamic art I had just seen back in London, at the Ismaili Centre, opposite the V&A. There are manuscripts in this show that took 20 years to paint,” art critic Waldemar Januszczak wrote recently in the Times of Britain. Januszczak was referring to the “Spirit & Life” exhibition, which opened at London’s Ismaili Centre on July 14 and runs through August 31.