AGRA FORT

HISTORICAL PRESPECTIVE OF AGRA FORT

AGRA FORT, is a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE site located in Agra ,UTTAR PARDESH INDIA. It is about 2.5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, theTaj MEhal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city. After Panipat,MUGHALS captured the fort and a vast treasure - which included a diamond that was later named as the KOH I NOOR diamond - was seized. 

Realizing the importance of its central situation, Akbar  made it his capital and arrived in Agra in 1558. His historian, Abdul Fazal, recorded that this was a brick fort known as “Badal garh” . It was in a ruined condition and Akbar had it rebuilt with red sandstone from Barauli area in Rajasthan .Architects laid the foundation and it was built with bricks in the inner core with sandstone on external surfaces. Builders worked on it for eight years, completing it in 1573.

It was only during the reign of Akbar's grandson, Shah Jahan, that the site took on its current state. The legend is that Shah Jahan built the beautiful Taj Mehal for his wife, MUMTAZ Mehal. Unlike his grandfather, Shah Jahan tended to have buildings made from WHITE MARBLE, often inlaid with gold or semi-precious gems. He destroyed some of the earlier buildings inside the fort in order to make his own.

At the end of his life, Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son, Aurang Zaib, in the fort. It is rumored that SHAH JAHAN died in MUSAMMMAN BURJ a tower with a marble balcony with a view of the Taj MEHAL

The fort was the site of a battle during the INDIAN REBELLION OF 1857 which caused the end of the BRITISH INDIA's rule in India, and led to a century of direct rule of INDIA by BRITAIN..