Agra Fort

En un regard

Le château en bref

On the right bank of the Yamuna, Agra Fort unfolds a semicircular plan whose double walls of red sandstone, over twenty metres high and punctuated by broad circular bastions, enclose nearly 38 hectares. It occupies the site of an earlier stronghold, Badalgarh, already used by the Lodi sultans. Akbar made it the seat of his power and rebuilt it entirely in red sandstone; his grandson Shah Jahan later introduced white marble into palaces and mosques of great refinement. The fortress had four gates, including the Delhi Gate, the Akbari Gate and the Khizri Water Gate facing the river; visitors today enter through the Amar Singh Gate. Of the thousands of buildings mentioned by the chroniclers, only about thirty survive, grouped on the south-eastern side: Jahangiri Mahal, Khas Mahal, Diwan-i-Am, Diwan-i-Khas, Sheesh Mahal, Musamman Burj and Moti Masjid. Inscribed on the World Heritage List as early as 1983, the fort illustrates the evolution of Mughal architecture over nearly a century.