Kangra Fort

En un regard

Le château en bref

Kangra Fort, formerly known as Nagarkot, occupies a rocky spur at the confluence of the Banganga and the Majhi, some three kilometres from the town of Kangra and about twenty kilometres from Dharamshala. Spread over some 463 acres, it is regarded as the largest fortress in the Himalayas. The rivers protect it on three sides, while a moat cut into the rock links the two watercourses and closes off the last front. A long ramp passes through a succession of gateways, among them the Ranjit Singh Darwaza, the Jahangiri Darwaza, the Darshani Darwaza flanked by the goddesses Ganga and Yamuna, and the narrow Andheri Darwaza, the final barrier before the palaces. Twenty-three bastions reinforce the enclosure. At the summit stand the carved stone temples of Lakshmi Narayan and Ambika Devi, Jain shrines, the Kapoor Sagar stepped well and a watchtower. Partly ruined by the earthquake of 1905, the site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India; the Maharaja Sansar Chand Museum, founded by the Katoch family, displays weapons, texts, costumes and miniatures of the Kangra school at its entrance.