Agra Fort
In 1526, Babur stayed in the palace of Ibrahim Lodi after winning the First Battle of Panipat. He later built a baoli step well within the existing structure. Humayun was crowned at this fort in 1530 CE. Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun at the Battle of Bilgram in 1540 and held the site until 1555. Adil Shah Suri's general Hemu recaptured Agra in 1556 before being pursued to Delhi.
Akbar arrived in Agra in 1558 and made it his capital. His historian Abul Fazl recorded that the original brick fort was known as Badalgarh. It stood in a ruined condition when Akbar began renovations from 1565. The present-day structure was completed in 1573 using red sandstone from Barauli area Dhaulpur district in Rajasthan. Some four thousand builders worked on it daily for eight years. Architects laid the foundation with bricks in the inner core while covering external surfaces with sandstone.
The fort has a semicircular plan with its chord lying parallel to the river Yamuna. Its walls reach seventy feet high and feature double ramparts with massive circular bastions at intervals. Four gates were provided on its four sides, including one Khizri gate opening onto the river. Two notable gates remain: the Delhi Gate and the Lahore Gate.
The monumental Delhi Gate faces the city on the western side of the fort. It was built circa 1568 both to enhance security and serve as the king's formal gate. Intricate inlay work in white marble embellishes this grandest of all four gates. A wooden drawbridge crossed the moat to reach the gate from the mainland. Inside, an inner gateway called Hathi Pol or Elephant Gate added another layer of security. Two life-sized stone elephants with their riders guarded this inner passage. The layout includes a slight ascent and a ninety-degree turn between outer and inner gates that prevented attackers from gathering speed with elephants during sieges.
Shah Jahan rebuilt parts of the fort using white marble instead of red sandstone. He constructed the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Unlike his grandfather Akbar, Shah Jahan tended to have buildings made from white marble. Some five hundred buildings designed by Bengal and Gujarat architects originally stood within the fort before he demolished many to make way for new palaces.
The Shish Mahal served as part of a summer palace built between 1631 and 1640 AD. Its most distinctive feature is glass mosaic work done on its walls and ceiling. These glass pieces had high mirror quality which glittered and twinkled in thousand ways inside semi-dark interiors. The glass was imported from Haleb of Syria. Shahjahan also built similar glass palaces at Lahore and Delhi. The Khas Mahal stands nearby as one of the earliest attempts to convert existing red stone buildings according to his taste.
Aurangazeb placed his father Shah Jahan under house arrest after winning a bloody war of succession. Shah Jahan spent eight years from 1658 to 1666 AD imprisoned within the Muthamman Burj complex. This octagonal building surmounts the largest bastion of Agra Fort on the riverside facing East. It was originally built of red stone by Akbar who used it for jharokha darshan and sun worship every day at sunrise.
The fort changed hands between Marathas and their foes many times during the early 18th century. Mahadji Shinde took the fort in 1785 before losing it to the British during the Second Anglo-Maratha War in 1803. The site became the location of a battle during the Indian rebellion of 1857 which caused the end of British East India Company rule in India.
Thirty six people died when a cartridge factory located inside the fort exploded on the 30th of November 1871.
Most of the original buildings were destroyed by British troops of the East India Company between 1803 and 1862 for raising barracks. Only thirty Mughal buildings have survived on the south-eastern side facing the river such as the Delhi Gate and Akbar Gate. The northern portion remains under use by the Indian military including the Parachute Brigade today.
Jahangir's Chain of Justice dates from circa 1605 AD when the Mughal king instituted his Zanjir-i-Adl system. It was made of pure gold and measured eighty feet in length with sixty bells attached. One end fastened to battlements of the Shah-Burj while the other connected to a stone post on the bank of the river. Contemporary foreign travelers like William Hawkins personally saw this chain depicted in paintings from 1620 AD.
The Ghaznin Gate originally belonged to the tomb of Mahmud
Ghaznavi at Ghazni before being brought there by the British in 1842. Lord Ellenborough claimed these were sandalwood gates of Somnath which Mahmud had taken to Ghazni in 1025 though this claim proved false. The gate is actually made of local deodar wood of Ghazni and weighs about half a ton. Jahangir's Hauz tank measures five feet high and eight feet in diameter with twenty-five feet circumference. This monolithic tank was used for bathing and bears an inscription mentioning it as Hauz-e-Jahangir.
In 1983, the Agra fort was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its importance during Mughal rule. The site won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004. India Post issued a stamp to commemorate this architectural achievement. The fort lies about northwest of its more famous sister monument the Taj Mahal.
Agra Fort plays a key role in the Sherlock Holmes mystery The Sign of the Four written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It also appeared in
the music video for Habibi Dah, a hit song of Egyptian pop star Hisham Abbas. Shivaji came to Agra in 1666 per the Treaty of Purandar entered into with Jai Singh I to meet Aurangzeb in the Diwan-i-Khas. He stormed out of the imperial audience after being deliberately placed behind men of lower rank and was confined to Jai Singh's quarters on the 12th of May 1666.
Up Next
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When was the Agra Fort originally built and by whom?
The present-day structure of the Agra Fort was completed in 1573 under the orders of Akbar. The original brick fort known as Badalgarh stood in a ruined condition when Akbar began renovations from 1565.
What materials were used to construct the walls of the Agra Fort?
Architects laid the foundation with bricks in the inner core while covering external surfaces with red sandstone from Barauli area Dhaulpur district in Rajasthan. Shah Jahan later rebuilt parts of the fort using white marble instead of red sandstone.
Where is the Muthamman Burj located within the Agra Fort complex?
This octagonal building surmounts the largest bastion of Agra Fort on the riverside facing East. It was originally built of red stone by Akbar who used it for jharokha darshan and sun worship every day at sunrise.
How long did Shah Jahan spend imprisoned inside the Agra Fort?
Shah Jahan spent eight years from 1658 to 1666 AD imprisoned within the Muthamman Burj complex after being placed under house arrest by Aurangazeb. This period followed his defeat in a bloody war of succession.
When was the Agra Fort inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
In 1983, the Agra fort was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its importance during Mughal rule. The site won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004.