The most evocative of Delhi's monuments is the Jama Masjid, the ‘Friday Mosque’ constructed by the Emperor Shah Jahan in Old Delhi. Between twenty and thirty thousand worshippers mass in the courtyard each week for Friday prayers – a scene little changed since the mosque was inaugurated three-and-a-half centuries ago.

Squeeze up the narrow staircase in one of its minarets for a panoramic view over the huge onion domes crowning the central prayer hall to the warrenous old city beyond.