Built almost five centuries ago, this tomb was built for Isa Khan Niyazi who was an influential noble in the court of Sher Shah Suri, and after his death, his son Islam Shah. Isa Khan was instrumental in holding the throne of Delhi for Islam Shah.

Isa Khan’s Mosque is over 25 m wide and 10 m deep and is mostly built of well-dressed local quartzite stone.

Isa Khan’s Mosque is over 25 m wide and 10 m deep and is mostly built of well-dressed local quartzite stone.

As is usual for Mosques, the central bay is grander, finished with red sandstone, ornamented with arched niches that surround the arched opening.

This central bay is also roofed by a large dome that springs from an octagonal drum, interiors of which are in dressed DQ stone.

The exteriors of the octagonal drum would have originally had sandstone minarets on the eight corners – only the base of which now remains, and in the centre of each side is a sandstone arched niche.

Red Sandstone is also used for the battlemented kangura motifs on the parapet.

On either side of the principal dome stands octagonal canopies, unique in Delhi for a Mosque roof.

The canopies were originally covered with ceramic tiles, with the domes being in green tiles and blue and yellow tiles alternating at the bottom band had suffered damage and have now been conserved as per the original designs and material.

In the interiors, each of the three bays has a decorative sandstone mihrab with carving and incised Quranic quotations set in a plain square architrave and capped by a row of small kanguras, the side mihrabs being treated in the same way, but less ornately’, with the remainder of the interior being principally of dressed DQ stone.

The roof was originally accessible from three staircases - one on the southern edge of the main façade and one each from the northern and southern ends of the interiors.

The inner southern staircase was blocked in the early 20th century – possibly as part of a conservation effort.

The Mosque has a large platform facing it with a small circular well adjacent to the southeast corner of the building.

As part of the conservation efforts undertaken here, the well was desilted and now serves as a water recharge well.

An exhaustive documentation, condition assessment was prepared in 2010, and conservation works commenced in early 2011 following a peer review of the Conservation Plan by ASI officials and conservation experts.

An exhaustive documentation, condition assessment was prepared in 2010, and conservation works commenced in early 2011 following a peer review of the Conservation Plan by ASI officials and conservation experts.

As with the Isa Khan’s Tomb, the interiors of the mosque also required cleaning of the stone surfaces and re-plastering with lime mortar following the removal of cement plaster.

The two canopies that stand on the northern and southern sides of the principal dome, over the flat domes below, comprise a unique treatment for Mosques in Delhi.

Unlike the canopies of the tomb, these octagonal canopies are supported on much harder DQ stone pillars with an elaborate capital, also in DQ.

The canopies on the mosque still have almost 50% of the tiles remaining though over 90% of the glazing on these no longer remains.

The surviving tiles indicate that the domes were covered in green tiles while the base of the dome had alternate lapis blue and yellow tiles.

Conservation works have focussed on ensuring consolidation of the remaining original tile fragments, with or without the glazing, and restoring tiles on the missing portions matched with original colour, material, and pattern.

This not only prevents further water penetration, but also restores the original grandeur and authenticity of the monument.