Sunder Nursery - Delhi's Heritage Park

Sunder Nursery (Central Park, New Delhi) is a 16th century heritage park complex adjacent to the Humayun's Tomb, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Delhi. Originally known as Azim Bagh and built by the Mughals in the 16th century, it lies on the Mughal-era Grand Trunk Road, and is spread over 90 acres (36 hectare). Future plans aim to link nearby areas to develop it into India's largest park covering 900 acres.

Today Sunder Nursery contains fifteen heritage monuments of which 6 are UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) protected Sunder Burj, Sunderwala Mahal and Lakkarwala Burj.

The development works at Sunder Nursery commenced in 2007 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in partnership with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), the nursery reopened to public as a heritage park on 21 February 2018. Now it contains over 300 types of trees, making it Delhi's first arboretum.

During the British rule, the nursery was established to grow experimental plants, which gave it its current designation as a nursery. The "Sunder" part of the name comes from the Sunder Burj tomb located in the same premises. Although the name Sunder Nursery has still held, the park has been quoted to be a 'Delhi's Central Park' after landscape development works undergone since 2007.
Late Prof. M. Shaheer, who was the Landscape Architect of Sunder Nursery, speaks here about the landscape design approach undertaken here. The design incorporates three key assets of the site: Heritage, Nursery, and Ecology.