Lal Qila

Brief information

The Red Fort is not named figuratively: its walls are built of red sandstone, and this material is the first thing that explains the appearance of Lal Qila. Shah Jahan built it as the palace of the fortified capital Shahjahanabad, so the place combines two roles: the emperor's residence and a fortress designed to defend the city.

This dual concept is important for how one views the complex. Inside there were palaces, audience halls, baths, covered channels, geometric gardens, and a mosque, but after the uprising of 1857 many marble structures were destroyed by the British. Therefore, the preserved defensive walls read not as a backdrop to a palace ensemble, but as the most durable part of the site, one that survived the change of power and the fortress's transformation into a garrison.

What to notice first

It is worth comparing the wall on the side of the Yamuna River with the wall on the city side: the source indicates different heights, from 16 to 33 meters. This makes it clear that the fortress did not face its different sides in the same way. The asymmetry of the outer walls is no accident either: Lal Qila is built next to the older Salimgarh Fort, and the earlier fortress influenced the shape of the new palace-fortress.

The internal buildings show a different logic. The hall of public audience is supported by 60 red sandstone columns and a flat roof; the hall of private audience is smaller and distinguished by a white marble pavilion. Between the imperial pavilions ran the water channel Nahr-i-Bihisht, the “Stream of Paradise.” These details help one read the complex as a fortified palace: outside are walls and gates, inside is a sequence of halls, water, and gardens created for ceremonies.