Tales from the crypt: An exclusive preview of Delhi’s new Mughal museum

Nestled in a corner of the pristine Sunder Nursery, across the road from Humayun’s Tomb in central Delhi, a series of red sandstone ramps gently heads to the grassy ground beneath. “The Humayun Museum will serve as a gateway to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Humayun’s Tomb,” says Ratish Nanda, the CEO of Aga Khan Trust for Culture, which has built the museum. “Each artefact relays and interprets the story of this historic precinct, where 700 years of monumental architecture is surrounded with craft, music, culture, and pluralism.” Stepping inside the museum, visitors are transported into the world of Humayun’s Tomb — from the 16th century, when the monument was built, to the later centuries whose narrative the tomb helped shape, right up to this modern age. The Humayun Museum is the culmination of 15 years of work by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, in partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India — the same team that restored Humayun’s Tomb. Such tiles once adorned parts of Humayun’s Tomb, but most were lost by the 1950s, and were replaced with new tiles during the tomb’s restoration.. Chinese porcelain No Chinese takeaway existed in Mughal India.