This Study day replaces the cancelled one on 15th October.

Mughals and Rajputs, Courts and Palaces of India

Sue Rollin works as a tour guide and lecturer on India, Central Asia, the Mediterranean and Middle East, and as a freelance interpreter for international organisations including the European Union and United Nations. She was formerly staff interpreter at the European Commission in Brussels and tutor and lecturer in Assyriology and Ancient History at the Universities of London and Cambridge. She has worked as an archaeologist. Publications: Blue Guide: Jordan and Istanbul: A Traveller's Guide.

Sue Rollin looks at the art, architecture and magnificent royal courts of the Mughal emperors of India, whose creative building culminated in that most sublime of monuments, the Taj Mahal, constructed by Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved queen. The Rajput rajas and maharajas, subject first to the Mughals and then the British, were well rewarded for their loyalty and service. They built majestic fort-palaces in their state capitals where they held glittering courts and sponsored artists and craftsmen who created distinctive styles of art. 

Sue gave us the most interesting lecture on ‘Petra and the Nabateans – the Arabs before Islam’ last October.