The University
The Aligarh Muslim University was founded in the year 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. AMU started as a college named Muhammad Anglo-Oriented College. Sir Syed was an educationist and want the people of India to study Science and English so that they can progress too.
His ambition was to establish an educational institution but he was not that affluent to start a college on his own. So he begged people and went door to door for donations. He even went to the Kings and the English officers of his time for donations. His financial position was so bad that he couldn’t hire an architect to design the college buildings, so, Sir Syed Khan decided to design all the buildings by himself, and there is no doubt that all buildings are exceptional. Let’s dig deep into it.
Sir Syed Hall
There is a hall known as Sir Syed Hall, which is the first building of the college. This building served as the main building, later the university expanded and new faculties and departments were built. This building is a residential hostel for boys now. This hall was built by him and this very hall contains some of the best examples of AMU architecture. The Buildings of Sir Syed Hall are The Strachey Hall, Victoria gate, Jama Mosque and there are lots of rooms which then served as lecture theaters now they are hostel rooms.
The Strachey Hall
The idea of Strachey Hall is taken from the buildings of Oxford and Cambridge architecture. Sir Syed went to Oxford and Cambridge to get the idea of how college should look like and how should it work. He got the idea of Strachey Hall from there. The Strachey hall’s front wall is flat but its back wall is curved. The inner walls have stones engraved on them on which the name of donors are inscribed. Sir Syed used red sandstone to make the buildings, the same stone was also used by the Mughals in the Red Fort, and Jama Masjid and other sites.
Victoria Gate
Now the next most exquisite building in AMU is the Victoria Gate. The Victoria Gate was named after the then Queen of England and Empress of India, Queen Victoria. The Victoria Gate has a Clock that is still working and shows the correct time, and a bell that knells at every hour. The Victoria Gate is also made with red sandstone and some patchy red and white stones. This Gate served as Main Gate of college until the Muhammad Anglo-Oriented College became a university in 1920 and a new gate Bab-e-Syed gate came into existence.
Jama Masjid
University has its own Jama Masjid (Main Mosque) which Sir Syed started building in 1879. The Jama Masjid heavily resembles the Jama Masjid of Shahjahanabad, New Delhi. The Mosque has three domes and two minarets. There are inscriptions of the verses of the Holy Qur’an on the main door of the mosque. The inner part of the mosque contains exquisite calligraphy of Quranic verses and floral decorations all over the walls. The mosque has a cistern in the middle of it just like the Jama Masjid of Delhi has.