"Этюд в багровых тонах" "A study in Scarlet"

Rating 10110

Indian motifs are often found in the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes, so borrowing the title of one of these stories should not be considered an encroachment on the classics. The abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri was built four and a half centuries ago as the capital of the Mughal Empire by the founder of the dynasty, the great Akbar I. Masters of different schools and traditions of India took part in the construction of the red sandstone city. He did not stay in the capital for long, only 14 years. It was erected in a deserted place and did not take into account the lack of sufficient water in the local area for the capital city - the people did not take root in the new capital. Soon the city was abandoned, there were no cataclysms, but the feeling that arises while walking through the empty squares is reminiscent of what it was when visiting Pompeii.
The buildings belong to a different time and a different culture, they are better preserved, but the spacious squares, once full of people, evoke thoughts about the frailty of life. A mosque, a royal palace, a mausoleum, reception halls, palaces of wives and houses of the ruler’s close associates, household structures have survived, but decorations, carvings and paintings were largely knocked down and taken out during the years of British rule in Hindustan. After Europe, the expanse of deserted squares is especially noticeable here, when there is no need to look for a long time for a place from where you can take a general picture.