Humayun had a deep interest in architecture and was known to express awe and admiration when he encountered significant buildings across Hindustan and Persia. He built his capital Dinpanah in Delhi, but had also planned to establish capitals in Agra, Jaunpur and Lahore. 
He built several structures in close proximity to the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin, the most important of them being the Sabz Burj.  Architectural historian Ebba Koch suggests this is the mausoleum for Humayun’s mother, Maham Begam, who had died in May 1533. As with Timur’s palace in the Bagh-i- Shimal, north of Samarqand, the ceiling of Sabz Burj was decorated with gold and lapis lazuli. Using pure gold along with light blue, white, and red paints to create floral patterns and scrolls on a dark blue lapis lazuli ground, created a stunning painted ceiling. Today, it is amongst the earliest painted ceiling to survive at any of India’s monuments. 
The elegant, sophisticated design of Sabz Burj and the brilliant decorations, including the painted ceiling, geometric and interlacing patterns in incised plasterwork, the glazed tiles-green, yellow, turquoise and lapis blue—clearly indicate the mausoleum is a royal commission.