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Primary sourceArtifactfounded 1571

Fatehpur Sikri

founded 1571

The capital city Akbar built from 1571, blending Persian, Timurid and Indian styles, and the site of his religious debates.

Akbar founded and built this city as his imperial capital and the site of his interfaith debates.

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Red sandstone palace courtyard at Fatehpur Sikri with multi-storey colonnaded pavilions, carved jali screen railings, and a green-tinted water pool in the foreground under a clear sky with trees.
Akbar's palace at Fatehpur Sikri, made of red sandstone.

About this source

What it is

Fatehpur Sikri is a city in Uttar Pradesh, India, founded as the Mughal capital in 1571 by Akbar. He built it to commemorate the Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Chishti, who had predicted the birth of Akbar's son Jahangir there in 1569, before expanding it into a full walled imperial city and palace complex. Akbar used it as his capital until 1585.

Why it matters

Fatehpur Sikri shows Akbar's architectural ambitions and his religious curiosity: it housed the Ibadat Khana, where he gathered scholars of many faiths for debate. Its buildings mix Persian, Timurid and Indian architectural traditions, reflecting the diverse empire Akbar ruled. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Look closer

  • Why might Akbar have abandoned a capital he spent so much effort building, only fourteen years after founding it?
  • What does mixing architectural styles from different regions and religions suggest about how Akbar saw his empire?
  • What might archaeological finds beneath the city tell us about the people who lived there before Akbar?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Akbar the Great on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Illuminated opening page of a manuscript in Persian script. At top is an ornate gold and blue illuminated frontispiece with floral arabesques, a central cartouche and arched panels. Below are three columns of black calligraphy on cream paper, framed by gold and red borders.Book

Primary source

Akbarnama

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak · c. 1590

Two-page manuscript spread with dense Persian script in black ink on the left and right pages. The right page has a ruled grid board with red and blue lines, a central multicolored rosette, and sets of colored pawn shapes in four corners, illustrating a Chaupar game.Book

Primary source

Ain-i-Akbari

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak · 1589-1596

Painted Mughal miniature showing Akbar's elephant Hawai in a riverside scene: elephants and men on a sandy bank, boatmen in wooden boats struggling in choppy water, figures at a red fort wall above, and Persian inscriptions at the bottom.Artifact

Primary source

Victoria and Albert Akbarnama

c. 1590-1595

Front view of the Buland Darwaza, a tall red sandstone gateway with white domed pavilions on its roof, a large central arched portal, and a wide flight of steps leading up to it. Several people stand on the steps and a small white goat is at lower left.Artifact

Primary source

Buland Darwaza

begun 1573

Mughal miniature painting of a seated ruler in yellow robes under a red canopy, surrounded by courtiers, scholars with books, and a night sky with a domed building above. Below, figures include a horseman and beggars.Painting

Primary source

Akbar Holds a Religious Assembly in the Ibadat Khana

Nar Singh · c. 1605

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