Fatehpur Sikri:

Perhaps the greatest of the Moghul emperors, Akbar (ruled 1556-1605) moved his residence from Agra some 26 miles west to Fatehpur Sikri, where he erected a major new palace complex. Most sources connect this decision with the emperor's veneration for a local Sufi holy man, Sheikh Salim Chishti, to whose prayers were attributed the birth of a son, Jahangir, who would eventually succeed Akbar.

It was in Chishti's honor in 1568 that Akbar ordered to build the Jami Masjid (mosque), which is one of the most impressive in all of the Islamic world and in whose courtyard the Sufi saint's tomb is now located.

Most of the adjoining palace complex was built between 1568 and 1575. Akbar was the first emperor showed signs of religeous tolerance by marrying a Hindu (Rajput princess). The architechture indicates the mixture of Persian and Hindu designs.

In 1584 Akbar hastely abandoned it for Lahore, and in the last years of his life the court moved back to Agra. Problems with maintaining an adequate water supply may have contributed to the decision to abandon the site.

The British came and found the abandoned city intact but in disrepair. They restored the city before the Indian Independence.

When we visited, its pools being dry and only few visitors seen, the whole palace complex looked like a ghost town which was trying to tell us their stories from glorious past.