Lucknow

Lucknow was the capital of the Nawabs of Awadh, and the culture they created — a synthesis of Mughal, Persian, and North Indian elements — produced the finest Urdu poetry, the most sophisticated classical dance style, the most elaborate culinary tradition, and the most extreme courtesy in all of India.

Tehzeeb — the Lucknowi concept of refined manners — is not merely etiquette but a whole philosophy of social interaction in which the other person's comfort takes precedence over your own in every situation. The language reflects it: Lucknowi Urdu, still spoken by the older families of the old city, uses the Hindustani base with a vocabulary and intonation compared to the difference between standard English and the most considered prose.

The Bara Imambara, built in 1784 as a famine relief project — paying labourers to work on it by day and sending architects to repair any work the Nawab felt was insufficiently ambitious at night — is the largest vaulted hall in the world built without the use of iron or wooden beams. The central hall spans 50 metres without a single support column. The Bhulbhulaiya — the labyrinthine corridors above, with hundreds of identical passages — were originally designed as private ceremonial space for Shia Muslims, and have subsequently been used, with less success, as a navigational puzzle by tourists.

Places to Visit in Lucknow

• Bara Imambara
• Rumi Darwaza
• Chota Imambara
• Hazratganj Market

Things to Do in Lucknow

• Awadhi cuisine food trail
• Imambara architecture tour
• Old Lucknow heritage walk