Jaisalmer Fort

En un regard

Le château en bref

Known as the Sonar Qila, or “Golden Fort”, Jaisalmer Fort crowns the Trikuta hill in the middle of the Thar Desert. Its yellow sandstone walls, built without mortar and reinforced with 99 bastions, take on a golden hue at sunset that inspired Satyajit Ray’s film ‘Sonar Kella’. Unlike most forts in Rajasthan, it remains inhabited: a living town, with its lanes, houses, shops and hotels, occupies the interior of the walls. Visitors enter through a succession of gates – Akhay Pol, Suraj Pol, Ganesh Pol and Hawa Pol. At the heart of the citadel rises the palace of the Maharawals, a complex of residences including the Rang Mahal, the Gaj Mahal and the Moti Mahal, while an exceptional group of finely carved Jain temples stands alongside the Lakshminath Temple. UNESCO highlights the rare combination of a sacred and urban fort, but also the fragility of the hill, which is threatened by water seepage.