Kalan Mosque at present is situated in Nizamuddin. It was patronized by the vizier of Sultan Firoz Shah, Junan Shah. The mosque belongs to the Tughlaq period and was made around 1370-71. An inscription on the eastern gate of the mosque provides us with this information. There are various other monuments also which were built by him though there is debate among scholars related to the number of monuments he commissioned. This mosque is popularly also called as kali mosque. It is still used as a congregational mosque.

The mosque was built in a square plan. It has three doomed gateways on the eastern, southern and northern sides. The main entrance of the mosque is very similar to the Khirki mosque. Kalan Mosque is a variation of the popular style of architecture of the time. As it was constructed on the four-quartered typology. Its domes have a unique feature. They seem hemispherical from the inside, while their external appearance is conical. The arcades divide the building into four parts. This mosque doesn’t have a central dome. Walls were plastered and painted from outside as well as inside. This mosque is still in use and some renovation work also took place. Thus monuments lost many of their original elements of the Tughlaq period.

Location: T-374 Nizamuddin West main gate,  Kalan Masjid, New Delhi, Delhi 110013

Photo Source: ArchNet.Org