File:1880 Photograph Of The Golden Temple, Darbar Sahib, Sacred Pool And Nearby Buildings, Amritsar.jpg
Amritsar is a derivative of the Sanskrit amrita sarowar or 'pool of nectar', and the third Sikh Guru, Amar Das (1552-74) came to this area of forested tranquillity around the pool. His successor Guru Ram Das, may have been offered the land as a gift by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, but also paid the local Jat peasantry. In any case, the association of the gurus with the area made it a place of pilgrimage, and the fifth Guru, Arjan (1581-1606), added the Harmandir to the site. The city developed and in the 18th century acquired the name Amritsar.
The original simple structure was brick-built in the centre of the pool, with a connecting causeway. With the expansion of Sikh power in the 19th century, the temple evolved into the Darbar Sahib complex, replete with gilding, marble and inlay decoration.