The Ala'i Darwaza () is the southern gateway of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque in Qutb complex, Mehrauli, Delhi, India. Built by Sultan Alauddin Khalji in 1311 and made of red sandstone, it is a square domed gatehouse with arched entrances and houses a single chamber.
It has a special significance in Indo-Islamic architecture as the first Indian monument to be built using Islamic methods of construction and ornamentation and is a World Heritage Site. It serves as the southern gateway of the mosque. It is located approximately at the southern part of the Qutb complex.
The surroundings of Qutb Minar including many tombs, the mosque, and the Iron Pillar is called Qutb Complex.
Architecture
The Alai Darwaza is made up of a single hall whose interior part measures and exterior part measures .
The gatehouse, from 1311, still shows a cautious approach to the new technology, with very thick walls and a shallow dome, only visible from a certain distance or height. Bold contrasting colors of masonry, with red sandstone and white marble, introduce what was to become a common feature of Indo-Islamic architecture, substituting for the polychrome tiles used in Persia and Central Asia. The pointed arches come together slightly at their base, giving a mild horseshoe arch effect, and their internal edges are not cusped but lined with conventionalized "spearhead" projections, possibly representing lotus buds. Net, stone openwork screens, are introduced here; they already had been long used in temples.
The height of the dome is . There is extensive Arabic calligraphy on the walls of the Darwaza. The arches are horseshoe shaped,
Gallery
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File: Alai Darwaza, Qutub Complex, Delhi in the 1870s.jpg|Alai Darwaza in the 1870s
File: Qutub Minar Alai Darwaza Imam Zamin Delhi India - panoramio.jpg|Alai Darwaza with the Tomb of Imam Zamin in the foreground
File:Alai Darwaza-Qutub-Complex.jpg|Doorway of the Darwaza
File: Window at Alai Darwaza, Qutb complex.jpg|Window of the Darwaza
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