Photo Essay on the Redeveloped Sunder Nursery Heritage Park

The Sunder Nursery or Azim Bagh is a sixteenth century Mughal-era complex located adjacent to Humayun’s Tomb. The place was used as a nursery by the British, and since then is more popularly known as Sunder Nursery. The word Sunder is derived from the Sunderwala Burj, one of the medieval structures inside the complex. After years of restoration work on heritage structures by the Aga Khan Trust, the Sunder Nursery complex is now open to the public. The entry ticket is ₹ 35/- per person (more for foreign nationals) and the ambiance is calm, serene and like how Delhi once was.

The nursery part of the complex, which was always open to the public to buy plants, is now also an arboretum with many different species of trees. In addition, the complex itself has been zoned into Heritage Structures, Bonsai Garden, Fruit Orchard, Amphitheater, Biodiversity, Nursery and so on. On one side of the complex is the Delhi Zoo and another side is the Humayun’s Tomb. This makes it a haven for birds, butterflies and insects as well. The Sunder Nursery complex is now at par with the Lodhi Garden, the other famous heritage garden of Delhi.

Delhi Greens staff Vikunu Khieya has compiled the following Photo Essay on the redeveloped Sunder Nursery Complex.

The birds living their own life, inside the natural habitat of Sunder Nursery.

Sunderwala Burj, the structure after which the Nursery has been named, first build by the Mughals in 16th Century.

Pink Cedar, Acrocarpus fraxinifolius, a large deciduous emergent tree, perhaps the only Pink Cedar found in Delhi.

Some 80 years old Bonsai Trees, in the Nursery Flora Lane of Sunder Nursery.

Amphitheater, aimed at providing a platform for locals and music traditions amidst the monuments.

Redone Battashewala Complex from the 16th century, within the enclosed Sunder Nursery Complex.

Arched platform recorded to have been profusely ornamented with glazed tiles, now also covered with the greens.

Broken and redone, and a reminder of how little we know of what we know.

Sunder Nursery Central Axis with 560 m. Persian carpet design, heart of the Nursery.

Not just after-life resting beds, Sunder Nursery also has a series of local flower beds of various kinds.