Architectural models: Models and memory, Western India

Sometimes models were made before the original building was damaged or rebuilt. Models can thus provide an important record of damaged or destroyed buildings.

  • Model of a mihrab or prayer niche in the late 15th-century Mosque of Muhafiz Khan, Ahmadabad



    Model of a mihrab or prayer niche in the late 15th-century Mosque of Muhafiz Khan, Ahmadabad
    Ahmadabad, Gujarat, Western India
    Mid-19th century
    Sandalwood and paper
    Height 19 cm x width 12 cm x depth 6 cm
    Museum no. 01126 (IS)

    From a set of models showing details of Ahmadabad mosque architecture, transferred to this Museum from the former India Museum in 1879. This model corresponds to the original except in one minor detail. The Arabic inscription is copied from the one in the mosque, which gives the name of its founder and its date.

  • Model of a minbar or pulpit in the late 15th-century Mosque of Muhafiz Khan, Ahmadabad



    Model of a minbar or pulpit in the late 15th-century Mosque of Muhafiz Khan, Ahmadabad
    Ahmadabad, Gujarat, Western India
    Mid-19th century
    Sandalwood
    Height 16 cm x width 18 cm x depth 5 cm
    Museum no. 01125 (IS)

    From a set of models showing details of Ahmadabad mosque architecture, transferred to this Museum from the former India Museum in 1879. The top section of the model is detachable. The upper part of the original pulpit in the mosque had disappeared by 1900.

  • Models of two windows of the late 15th-century Mosque of Muhafiz Khan, Ahmadabad



    Models of two windows of the late 15th-century Mosque of Muhafiz Khan, Ahmadabad
    Ahmadabad, Gujarat, Western India
    Mid-19th century
    Sandalwood
    Height 10 cm x width 6 cm x depth 2 cm
    Museum no. 01129 (IS)

    From a set of models showing details of Ahmadabad mosque architecture, transferred to this Museum from the former India Museum in 1879. Some of these may originally have been from a complete model of the Mosque of Muhafiz Khan.

  • Model of Miyan Khan Chishti's Mosque, Ahmadabad



    Model of Miyan Khan Chishti's Mosque, Ahmadabad
    Ahmadabad, Gujarat, Western India
    Mid-19th century
    Wood
    Height 63 cm x width 100 cm x 55 cm
    Museum no. IS 3-1999
    Given by David Gibson

    An inscription over the prayer niche inside the model confirms its identity. The mosque was built in about 1465. The walls at the back and left side were rebuilt in 1874 to make way for a house, but the model shows the mosque in its original form. The model also has complete minarets, whose tops are now missing from the building, perhaps due to earthquake damage. The mosque sustained further damage in the Gujarat earthquake of 2001.

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