Bahauddin Maqbara is an ornately carved mausoleum in the centre of Junagadh, built for the vizier who served the Nawabs of Junagadh State. Sheikh Bahauddin Hussain Bhar decided that rather than wait on royal patronage he paid for his own tomb, with the work running from 1891 to 1896. What he got is hard to categorise, because the design borrows from Indo-Islamic tradition and from Gothic and European sources all at once, and it doesn't much care that those things don't normally go together. Onion domes cluster over French windows. Marble jali and silver doorways sit under arches carved inside and out, and the whole elevation is a warm yellow brown stone that turns rich tones when the sun drops. Then there are the minarets, one at each corner, and each with its own staircase spiralling around intricate carvings. Framing a single minaret straight on and the staircase forms clean helix against the sky, or get right in at the base and look up until the whole thing goes abstract. The symmetry of the mausoleum is amazing for something so intricately designed, a centred shot from directly in front highlights that. Entry is fee nothing, but bringing a camera has a separate charge (but phone cameras don't), so plan for that before you turn up with your camera bag. Restoration has been running here for years under state protection so portions of the grounds may be blocked off. (Junagadh, Gujarat, India)
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