The Rumi Darwaza is Lucknow's signature gateway — a 60-foot ornamental arch built by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula in 1784 as part of the same famine-relief programme that produced the Bara Imambara. The name (literally "Roman Gate") comes from the gateway's resemblance to a Byzantine arch at Constantinople — the Nawab and his architect were said to have admired engravings of the Sublime Porte.
The gate originally separated the older city from the new Nawabi quarter and is now stranded on a traffic island in the middle of a busy road. Look up at the floral plasterwork on the inside of the arch; this is some of the finest stucco-work in Mughal-influenced India. Best seen on foot at dusk when the floodlights come on.