Diwan-i-Am (Red Fort)

The Diwan-i-Am, or Hall of Audience, is a building in the Red Fort of Delhi where the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (1592–1666) and his successors received members of the general public and heard their grievances.

The Diwan-i-Am consists of a front hall, open on three sides and backed by a set of rooms faced in red sandstone.

With an impressive façade of nine engraved arch openings, the hall was ornamented with gilded and white shell lime chunam plaster work.

A marble dais below the throne, inlaid with semi-precious stones, was used by the prime minister (wazir) to receive petitions.

Bernier gives a full account of the splendid appearance of the hall during the rule of Aurangzeb, as well as the 17th century merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.