The Sarkhej Roza is one of the most beautiful surviving complexes of medieval Indian architecture — a serene assembly of tombs, mosques, palaces, and pavilions around a giant artificial tank, eight kilometres southwest of central Ahmedabad. It was built between 1445 and 1451 around the tomb of the Sufi saint Sheikh Ahmed Khattu, who gave Ahmad Shah I the spiritual blessing to found the city.
The complex marks the transition from Hindu to Indo-Islamic architecture in Gujarat — the same architects who built temples now built mosques, and the result is pillars, lattice screens, and bracketed eaves that look Hindu in detail but Islamic in form. Sunset visits are spectacular, when the light turns the yellow sandstone pink. Plan an hour and a half.