Jama Masjid Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh

Entered by a flight of steps leading to a 17m-high domed porch, this disused red-stone mosque dominates Mandu village centre. Hoshang Shah begun its construction around 1406, basing it on the great Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, and Mahmud Khilji completed it in 1454. It's a relatively austere but harmonious building, and reckoned to be the finest and largest example of Afghan architecture in India. Notable features include the beautiful jali (stone-lattice) windows in the porch, the array of domes and arches around the courtyard, and the 17-bay-wide prayer hall with its Hindu-influenced pulpit and prayer niches.