Located between Safdurjung’s tomb and Khan Market, there lies 90 acres of beautifully landscaped garden which was once a royal burial ground of Sayyid and Lodi royalty. Today, the monuments are surrounded by walking paths and jogging paths with trees, shrubs and flowering plants on both sides. The garden as we see today was designed in 1936 by the British when it was called Lady Willingdon Park. (more…)
Heritage Walks at Lodi Garden are a regular feature of our calendar. This walking tour is usually organized in the evening, when it is pleasant to walk around the park. Our heritage walk starts at Mohammad Shah Sayyid’s tomb & covers Bara Gumbad, Shish Gumbad, Sikander Lodi’s tomb, a Mughal period bridge called Athpula, some late Mughal buildings & a standalone turret
(posted by Kavita Singh, team member, Delhi Heritage Walks)
Lodi Garden Heritage Walk
This was the last walk of the year & it gets colder every day! Still, there is nothing like walking through the ruins of Delhi to get warmed up. Our heritage walk this weekend was at Lodi Garden. Originally known as Bagh-i-Jud, it was a selected by medieval kings for the royal burials because of its close proximity to a dargah of a revered Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. The garden came up as a part of re-landscaping done during colonial rulers who named the garden as Lady Willingdon Park named after the wife of then Governor General. (more…)
Another summer evening, a group of history enthusiasts began the heritage walk at Lodi gardens. This place has seen numerous changes right from the 13th century till this date. How the story of beautiful bagh or garden to a royal burial place to a village settlement to a well-planned garden laid out in European style evolves to a jogger‘s paradise is really very fascinating. Some historical references states that the area was referred to as Jod Bagh or Bagh –i- Jud, from which the present Jor Bagh is dervied, which lies to the south of the gardens. (more…)
This year began with a pleasant heritage walk at the Lodi Garden. When the British decided to build a new capital at Delhi, the Lodi tombs at the village of Khairpur became part of the New Delhi area. This is when a garden was planned around these tombs and the Lady Willingdon Park was created. Lodi Garden is a post-Independence name. The village was removed and the garden was landscaped in such a way that the monuments stood out as singular objects of beauty. The first stop on our heritage walk was the tomb of Sayyid ruler Mohammad Shah. This tomb is similar to his predecessor’s tomb in Kotla Mubarakpur & Isa Khan’s tomb in Humayun’s tomb complex. An octagonal building with three arched openings on each side, with sloping buttresses at each corner. The interior is decorated with incised plaster work which depicts calligraphy and arabesque. Right next to the tomb is ‘Buddha’s Coconut’ the tallest tree in the Lodi Garden which is a native of rain forests in north east & south India. It is also a favoured roost with the vultures.
