Historical Red Fort Agra: All you Need to know

The Agra fort is known to be one of the royal forts from the time of the Mughal Empire that we have read in our history chapters. The fort is listed under the UNESCO Heritage world site which is situated 2.5km from the very well-known Taj Mahal. This Agra fort is also recognized as the ‘City of Walls’ because of its construction in red sandstone, thus the name ‘Red Fort’. It is considered to be the spot for tourist destinations in the country. 

The complexity of the fort consists of the building of its Mughals

• Pearl Mosque
• Diwan-I-Aam
• Jahangiri Mahal
• Moti Masjid
• Pearl Mosque

Interesting Facts about Agra Red fort

As interesting as the topic sounds, the facts about the Agra Red Fort will fascinate you equally.

1. The Fort was built with bricks that were known as the Badalgarh, that were owned by Hindu-Sikarwar Rajput-the king Badal Singh, which was built by Mughals. The fort was also part of the World Heritage Site affiliated by UNESCO in 1983 because of its majestic structure & royal design. 
2. The first time when the fort was mentioned in the chapter of history was when Ghaznavi striked the red fort in the year 1080 AD. The Sultan of Delhi- Sikandar Lodi who later on shifted to Agra & decided to stay in the red fort, had given this significance to Agra in the course of this reign. But in the year 1517 the Sultan died in the red fort itself; therefore, Ibrahim Lodi, son of Sikandar Lodi, took proper care of this fort thereafter for 9 years. During the same period of time he also constructed various mosques, royal houses & walls around the red fort. 
3. In the wake of the 1st war in the year 1526 in Panipat, the vanquishing Babur also resided in the red fort, who later established Baoli inside the red fort. After whom, Humayun was the one who was also crowned in the year 1530.
4. After knowing the significance of the state Agra, he announced Agra as capital of the kingdom in the year 1558.
5. As per the historian- Abul-Fazi, the fort was first built by Badalgarh bricks and at the same time the condition of the fort was not so good which is why Akbar later on rebuilt the fort with the red stones.
6. As per the architect of the fort, the bricks were used inside the interior of the red fort and on the other hand the exterior part of the red fort was established with the red stones. It is assumed that there were about four thousand workers who had built this fort which took about a good 8 years, the construction of the fort was completed by the year 1573.
7. The time during which the building of this fort was completed was during the Shah Jahan period, which is why he announced Agra as his own state. It is also a well-known fact-Shah Jahan was a Mughal who was fond of building Memorials & forts which is why he also built the very attractive Taj Mahal remembering his wife Mumtaz.
8. The Maratha Empire obtained the fort at the very start of the 18th Century. But he was defeated by Ahmad Shah Abdali in the Panipat in the year 1761 at the time of 3rd world war, after which the Marathas were out of the region for about one decade. But finally, the fort was won by Mahadji Shinde in the year 1857.
9. Specialist in History, Rashid pointed out that Agra’s red fort was constructed by bricks at first, which was also known as Badalgarh during the Chauhan Dynasty times. The army or troops of Mahmud Gazvani armed the red fort from Chauhan King in the same year 1080. The fort was captured by the Mughals after the Panipat war and so is well known as the ‘Agra Fort’.
10. There were around five hundred buildings inside Agra Fort that were made in different styles such as Bengali, Mughal & Gujarati. But as soon as the British occupied the place, the place or the red fort was used for the army. Later there were buildings that were collapsed by the Britishers in the year 1803-1862 after which there are 30 buildings left in the fort. 
11. Inside Diwan-I-Khas along with Jahangir established black throne as a meeting point (used the place for meeting with the higher officials), which broke off during the strike of cannon from river Yamuna. The attack was so solid that even cannonbell fell, which led to a small crater which is still visible. 
12. Aurangzeb- Shah Jahan’s own son imprisoned him in this Agra Red Fort.
13. The fort also had a treasury kept which had a diamond called as the Kohinoor Diamond, which was later taken by the, Britishers & so the Kohinoor is now in custody with ‘Queen of Britain’ 
14. This World Heritage fort which is a distinctive Mughal construction building was basically built for the purpose of Military Defense.
15. The architecture of the Agra Red Fort took almost eight years with four thousand artisans building this huge red fort.
16. This magnificent fort has also been awarded as the ‘Agra Khan’ because of its unique construction in 2004. For the same reason, Indian Postal Segment has also issued stamps in order to acknowledge the occasion.

The architecture of Agra Red Fort

The luxurious Agra Red fort is made by using the red sandstone with marbles along with features of Mughal style in the architecture of the fort. When captured from above the fort is displayed in a semicircle shape which is enclosed with massive double bastion walls which are again made from red sandstone. The partition of the fort is about two kilometers in perimeter & seventy feet in height. There are four gates to the fort which are named as:

• Delhi Gate
• Hathi Pol
• Ghaznin Gate

• The Delhi Gate is said to be the largest which was placed just as Akbar’s formal use as the visitors visiting the fort was only allowed entry from the ‘Amar Singh Gate’

The Red fort of Agra has the following features inbuilt inside:

• Splendid Rooms
• Magnificent Mosques
• Beautiful Halls

The dominant structure & monuments inside the fort also include the public & private halls which are known as Diwan-I-Am & Diwan-I-Khas and the royal pavilions that are used in the house masjids, other than those royal baths are made by using marble, with mirror palace/Sheesh Mahal & courtrooms. It is also assumed that the fort had about five thousand structures & monuments inside. But there were only a dozen that could stand at the time of testing. 

Best Time to Visit Red fort Agra

The best time to visit Red Fort in Agra or Agra for that matter is between Autumn & winter (which is from October to March) this is because till this time the heat gets drawn back and the weather turns to be pleasant & just perfect for the purpose of sightseeing. So, sit back in the afternoon at the complex of Tax rambling through the ground & enjoy this magnificent beauty of the monument in front of you.

Gems Used in the Making of Agra’s Red Fort

The interior walls & ceilings of the fort have been redone with slabs of mirrors in order to rejuvenate the native look. KK Muhammed the Superintending Archaeologist in the Delhi Circle district ASI mentioned a new line that the fort work is been re-done by using stones that are semi-precious- stones like agate, jasper, onyx, malachite, topaz & jade. 

Red Fort Agra Annoucned World Heritage by UNESCO

The red fort in Agra was announced as a World Heritage by UNESCO. The Sikandar Lodhi and the Mahmud Ghaznavi who were considered as King of the Chauhan Dynasty did also spend most of their time inside the fort.

• Mughal Emperor- Babur
• Humayun
• Akbar
• Jahangir
• Shahjahan
• Aurangzeb

All these above emperors ruled the country and the fort itself.

Inside Red Fort Agra 

There are several luxurious & magnificent palaces on the inside of this massive red fort in Agra that are:

• Bengali Mahal
• Akbari Mahal
• Jahangir Mahal
• Shah Jahani Mahal
• Machchi Bhawan
• Diwan-I-Aam
• Diwan-I-Khas
• Khas Mahal
• Sheesh Mahal

Other Information about Agra’s Red Fort

You may also like to read about : 

FAQs