Red Fort Complex, New Delhi 🇮🇳 India

The Red Fort complex, along with the earlier Selimgarh Fort, occupies an area of around 120 acres. The Red Fort was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as part of his new capital Shahjahanabad in the mid-17th century. The structure of the new planned city drew inspiration from Isfahan, the Persian capital, and reflected the power and grandeur of the Mughal court. Along the red sandstone walls are, at intervals, bastions surmounted by domed kiosks. The two principal entrances are the Lahori Gate and the Delhi Gate. The Lahori Gate was a ceremonial public entrance used by visitors and the Emperor himself. It consists of three stories between two semi-octagonal towers topped by a delicate seven-arch arcade with white domes flanked by two minarets. The Delhi Gate was used mainly by soldiers and all other people working in the fort. Lahori Gate gets its name because it faces west towards Lahore in Pakistan. The Lahori Gate leads directly into Chhattachowk, a vaulted arcade formerly used as the palace market. The market leads to the Napat Khana or Naka Khana drum house, a three-story rectangular building. Here, grand arrivals were serenaded by musicians and only princes could ride through and horseback beyond this point. Within the enclosing walls, the spatial organization and architectural attributes of the ensemble of Mughal monuments display most of the main day-to-day activities of Shah Jahan's court, which at its height accommodated around 3,000 people. The Red Fort was the first Mughal palace fort developed on the basis of a geometrical grid pattern set within an octagonal form and within an octagonal city plan. The Audience Hall or Diwan-i-Am is based on the concept of an open 40-pillared hall as used at Agra Fort. An ornate canopied throne balcony for the emperor stands at the centre of the eastern back wall of the Diwan behind which the private apartments lie. The throne balcony is of white marble carved and enlaved with precious stone in Pietradura. A low bench in front of the throne seats a minister. Panels of Pietradura work depicting birds and flowers decorate the wall behind the throne. Some of these were imported ready-made from Italy while their settings are in a similar but Mughal technique. The Red Fort demonstrates the outstanding results this achieved in planning and architecture. It is positioned between the public and private parts of the fortress. It faces a large open courtyard and behind the back wall lie the private imperial palaces. The Diwan is a hippostyle hall in red sandstone, nine bays wide and three bays deep. Each column has 12 sides and supports cusped arches. This arch form much used under Shah Jahan has early Indian origins and can be traced to both Hindu and Buddhist sources. During Shah Jahan's time the columns were plastered, painted and gilded with rich cloths draped between them to create an opulent atmosphere. The Red Fort has been a symbol of power since the reign of Shah Jahan and was the place where Indian independence was first celebrated and is still celebrated today. The Rang Mahal is a part of the Zenana or the women's quarters in the palace in the Red Fort complex. The Zenana consisted of five pavilions lined up along the banks of the Yamuna River. Rang Mahal is the large and fine building boarded by the Mumtaz Mahal at the southern end of the Zenana. It was the main resort for royal women. Rang Mahal also known as the palace of colour is built on a basement and consists of a large hall. The hall derives its name from its painted interior which was wholly defaced after the war of independence in 1857 when the British army occupied and used it as an officer's barrack. The original ceiling was gilded and decorated with elaborate mirror work. The walls have a marble relief carvings. The entrance is through five broad archways with cusped arches and faces a garden forecourt to the west. Prior to the Mughal period the principles of city planning had been developing in India since around the third millennium BC. In the intervening centuries the construction of forts, palaces, temples, gardens and water systems had all come to be seen as key elements of local architecture. During the early Mughal period in the 16th and 17th centuries architectural styles from Persia came to be fused with the local Hindu tradition to create what became a distinctive Mughal style. The Kasma Hall is the pavilion of imperial apartments in the palace of Red Fort of Delhi. On the south facing the Ruan Mahal is a baitak or sitting room which is the veranda painted in lavish white and gold floral patterns with accents in blue and green. The central hall or Baradari and the adjoining colonnade or portico is almost the same size. The richly ornamented ceilings of the palace are flat and the complex has stylishly carved and molded brackets. It is the third pavilion from the south in the row of palatial pavilions that stands along the eastern edge of the fort. To its south lies the large Zenana, the Ruan Mahal and to its north is the Diwan-i-Kas, the Hall of Private Audience. The Kasma Hall is relatively small and divided into four main parts. It is believed that Shah Hayanara lived in the northern one of the two almost identical pavilions separated from the central hall by a high marble wall. These red sandstone pavilions have been plastered with white shell plaster and have skillful gold work in its moral paintings. The interiors are profusely ornamentic in floral and geometrical patterns from the dados to the ceiling. Gold and blue, the royal colors, have been abundantly used here and still the traces are visible on the walls. The marble lotus, a fountain in the center of Ruan Mahal, carved out of a single slab is a piece of sheer beauty. The rooms in this palace have exquisite archways, trellises, channels and fountains for cooling the interiors. Located in the private area of the Red Fort Palace complex between the Kasma Hall and the imperial baths, the Diwan-i-Kas was the Mughal private audience hall. This is the most ornamental of all Shah Jahan's buildings, of white marble decorated with floral pietra dura patterns on the columns, with precious stones and gildings. Raised on a plinth, it is open on all sides except where it faces the river and is enclosed by pierced jelly panels. The original ceiling was of silver inlaid with gold. The roof of the building is flat and includes a particular detail inspired by the traditional Bengali roof. The roof wall intersections are slightly rounded and plastered. The Diwan-i-Kas, now called Mahke Bhavan, fish house, includes a courtyard measuring 40 meters east-west and 45 meters north-south and surrounded by two-story colonnades of Shah Jahani columns supporting multi-cusped arches. The hall was used by the emperor for giving private audience to the selected courtiers and visitors. Originally, there existed on the west of the Diwan-i-Kas two enclosures, one for the nobles and the other one for those who were not of a very high rank. These enclosures were removed after the mutiny. During the mutiny, Bahadur Shah II held court in the Diwan-i-Kas. The surfaces of the columns are articulated with shallow niches while each archway is topped with an opening covered with an intricate stone jelly screen. The Red Fort complex was the palace for Shah Jahan's new capital, Shahjahanabad, the seventh Muslim city in the Delhi site. He moved his capital from Agra in a move designed to bring prestige to his reign and to provide ample opportunity to apply his ambitious building schemes and interests. The spatial layout of the fort and its relationship with the river and with the city were key aspects of its design. It is said to be the unique synthesis of Persian, Hindu and Islamic concepts of city planning and the first Mughal fort palace to be systematically planned, in distinct contrast to Lahore and Agra. Within the enclosing walls there was a careful spatial differentiation of the various functions of the court and the buildings reflected hierarchical social structures. The landscape between the pavilion buildings was part of the overall spatial planning of the Red Fort. The landscape inside the fort has changed to a great extent, mainly due to interventions by the occupying force. From the current layout of the gardens, it is difficult to identify what is authentic Mughal design and what is not. The Red Fort was undoubtedly a landmark of Mughal architecture and a masterpiece of planning, design and construction when built. However, since its construction, major interventions have diminished its overall integrity and intactness and shown it of its opulent magnificence.