Carved pillar of Taj-Ul-Masajid. Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. "Taj-ul-Masajid" literally means "The Crown of Mosques". The construction of the mosque was started by Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal (1868-1901). However, the mosque was not completed due to lack of money, and after a long lay-off, construction was resumed in 1971. The mosque has a pink facade that is topped by two 18 storey high octagonal minarets with marble domes. The mosque also has three huge bulbous domes, an impressive main hallway with attractive pillars and marble flooring. It has a courtyard with a large tank in the centre. It has a double storeyed gateway with four recessed archways and nine cusped multifold openings in the main prayer hall. The Quibla wall in the prayer hall is carved with eleven recessed arches and has fine screens of trellis work. The massive pillars in the hall create 27 ceilings through squinted arches of which 16 ceilings are decorated with ornate petalled designs. Dhai Seedi Ki Masjid ("The mosque of 2 and a half steps"), one of the smallest mosques in Asia[3], is located right across the road from Taj-ul-Masajid. It is located within the campus of Gandhi Medical College, which is built on top of an old fort. Dhai Seedi Ki Masjid is in one of the watchtowers. Possibly, it is also the oldest mosque in Bhopal city, initially built as a makeshift mosque during the construction of the fort.
