|
The Delhi Fort,
also known as the Red Fort, is one of the popular tourist
destinations in Delhi. The Delhi Fort is located in Delhi,
India. It is also known as Lal Qil'ah and the Red Fort.
Sound & Light Show
- Red Fort
History
Front View The Red Fort was the palace for Muslim Mughal
Emperor Shah Jahan's new capital, Shahjahanabad, the seventh
Muslim city in the Delhi site. He moved his capital from Agra
in a move designed to bring prestige to his reign, and to
provide ample opportunity to apply his ambitious building
schemes and interests. The Red Fort stands at the eastern edge
of Shahjahanabad, and gets its name from the massive wall of
red sandstone that defines its eight sides. The wall is 1.5
miles (2.5 km) long, and varies in height from 60ft (16m) on
the river side to 110 ft (33 m) towards the city. Measurements
have shown that the plan was generated using a square grid of
82 m.
The fort lies along the Yamuna River, that fed the moats that
surround most of the wall. The wall at its northeastern corner
is adjacent to an older fort, the Salimgarh, a defense built
by Islam Shah Sur in 1546.
The Red Fort was conceived as a whole, and subsequent
modifications have not taken away from the overall unity of
the scheme. In the 18th century, however, occupiers and
looters damaged some sections of the palace. After the Sepoy
Mutiny of 1857, when the Fort was used as a headquarters, the
British army occupied and destroyed many of its pavilions and
gardens. A program for restoring the surviving parts of the
fort began in 1903.
Architectural design
The Diwan I Khas, or Hall of Private Audiences. The walls of
the fort are smoothly dressed, articulated by heavy
string-courses along the upper section. They open at two major
gates, the Delhi and the Lahore gates. The Lahore Gate is the
main entrance; it leads to a long covered bazaar street, the
Chatta Chowk, whose walls are lined with stalls for shops.
 The
Chatta Chowk leads to a large open space where it crosses the
large north-south street that was originally the division
between the fort's military functions, to its west, and the
palaces, to its east. The southern end of this street is the
Delhi Gate. On axis with the Lahore gate and the Chatta Chowk,
on the eastern side of the open space, is the Naqqar Khana
("drum house"), the main gate for the palace, named for the
musicians' gallery above it. Beyond this gate is another,
larger open space, which originally served as the courtyard of
the Diwan-i-Am, the large pavilion for public imperial
audiences. An ornate throne-balcony for the emperor stands at
the center of the eastern wall of the Diwan, conceived as a
copy of the throne of Solomon.
The imperial private apartments lie behind the throne. The
apartments consist of a row of pavilions that sits on a raised
platform along the eastern edge of the fort, looking out onto
the river Yamuna. The pavilions are connected by a continuous
water channel, known as the Nahr-i-Behisht, or the Stream of
Paradise, that runs through the center of each pavilion. The
water is drawn from the river Yamuna, from a tower, the Shah
Burj, at the northeastern corner of the fort. The palace is
designed as an imitation of paradise as it is described in the
Koran; a couplet repeatedly inscribed in the palace reads, "If
there be a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here". The
planning of the palace is based on Islamic prototypes, but
each pavilion reveals in its architectural elements the Hindu
influences typical of Mughal building. The palace complex of
the Red Fort is counted among the best examples of the Mughal
style at its Shah Jahani peak.
 The Red Fort by night. The two southernmost pavilions of the
palace are zenanas, or women's quarters: the Mumtaz Mahal (now
a museum), and the larger, lavish Rang Mahal, which has been
remarked for its gilded, decorated ceiling and marble pool,
fed by the Nahr-i-Behisht. The third pavilion from the south,
the Khas Mahal, contains the imperial chambers. These include
a suite of bedrooms, prayer rooms, a veranda, and the Mussaman
Burj, a tower built against the fortress walls, from which the
emperor would show himself to the people in a daily ceremony.
The next pavilion is the Diwan-i-Khas, the lavishly decorated
hall of private audience, used for ministerial and court
gatherings. This finest of the pavilions is ornamented with
floral pietra dura patterns on the columns, with precious
stones and gilding. A painted wooden ceiling has replaced the
original one, of silver inlaid with gold.
The next pavilion contains the hammam, or baths, in the
Turkish style, with Mughal ornamentation in marble and colored
stones. To the west of the hammam is the Moti Masjid, the
Pearl Mosque. This was a later addition, built in 1659 as a
private mosque for Aurangzeb, Shah Jahan's successor. It is a
small, three-domed mosque in carved white marble, with a
three-arched screen which steps down to the courtyard.
To its north lies a large formal garden, the Hayat Bakhsh Bagh,
or 'Life-Bestowing Garden', which is cut through by two
bisecting channels of water. A pavilion stands at either end
of the north-south channel, and a third, built in 1842 by the
last emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, stands at the center of the
pool where the two channels meet.
Modern day significance
The Red Fort is one of the most popular tourist destinations
in Delhi, attracting millions of tourists every year. The fort
is also the site from which the Prime Minister of India
addresses the nation on August 15, the day India achieved
independence from United Kingdom.
At one point of time, more than 3000 people lived within the
premises of the Delhi Fort complex. But after the Sepoy Mutiny
of 1857, the fort was captured by Britain and was made the
headquarters of the British Indian Army. After India achieved
independence in 1947, the Indian Army took control over the
fort. However, in December 2003, the Indian Army handed the
fort over to the Indian tourist authorities
|
