Shalimar Bagh
Shalimar Bagh is located off Gyan Shakti Mandir Road near BH block in the Shalimar Bagh suburb of Delhi adjacent to the Haiderpur villages. This area was earlier known as Azizabad, after a mistress of Shah Jahan. Popularly known as Sheesh Mahal (central pavilion of the garden) Park among the local population, the garden and the palace were constructed by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, in 1653.
Shah Jahan used this palace as a halting place on his royal trips to Kashmir, Punjab or Lahore. The garden was typically laid in a Mughal style and had a very good water supply and drainage system. The whole palace was decorated with colorful floral paintings, some of which can be seen even today on the outer walls of the room adjacent to the fountain tank.
Renowned for its beauty, the garden and the palace was the favorite country house of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It was here that Aurangzeb crowned himself as the next Emperor of the Mughal Empire, in 1658 AD. During the British rule, Sir David Ochterlony and Lord Metcalfe used the garden as their summer lodge. At present, the beautiful Sheesh Mahal is in a serious state of neglect. There are numerous small wells and a ruined fountain network. The beautiful garden has been replaced by a simple park, which is now used by the local population for their recreational activities. However, traces of the Mughal garden can still be seen there in some parts of the park. One of the main attractions for visitors to the park is the variety of fruit trees and wild flowers.
