Red Fort

The red sandstone walls of Lal Qila, the Red Fort, extend for two km and vary in height from 18 metres on the river side to 33 metres on the city side. Shah Jahan started construction of the massive fort in 1638 and it was completed in 1648. Before he could move his capital from Agra to Shahjahanabad in Delhi,he was deposed and imprisoned in Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb.

Lahore Gate

The Lahore gate is the main gate to the fort, getting its name from the fact that it faces Lahore. It leads to a vaulted arcade, the Chatta Chowk (Covered Bazaar). The shops cater to the tourist trade today, but once they stocked articles for the royal household - silks, jewellery, gold. This arcade was also known as the Meena Bazaar, where ladies of the court shopped on Thursdays. No man was allowed inside the citadel on that day.

Coronation Durbar This is a must for incurable Raj fans looking for their fix of nostalgia. It's north of Old Delhi and is best reached by auto-rickshaw. An obelisk marks the site where the durbars were enacted between 1877 and 1903. It was here that King George V was declared Emperor of India in 1911.

Feroz Shah Kotla

The ruins of Ferozabad, the fifth city of Delhi, erected by Feroz Shah Tughlaq in 1354 can be found at Feroz Shah Kotla, just off Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg between the Old and New Delhi. A 13-metre-high sandstone obelisk with Ashoka's edicts (and a later inscription) can be seen in the old fortress palace. Also to be seen are the remains of an old mosque and a fine well. But most of the ruins were used in the construction of later cities.

Purana Qila

Purana Qila is the supposed site of Indraprastha, the original city of Delhi. The Afghan ruler, Sher Shah, who briefly interrupted the Mughal Empire by defeating Humayun, completed the fort during his reign from 1538-45, before Humayun regained control of India. The fort, located south-east of the India Gate and north of Humayun's Tomb and the Nizamuddin railway station, has massive walls and three large gateways. There is a small octagonal red sandstone tower, the Sher Mandal, inside the fort near the South gate. It was later used by Humayun as a library. While descending the stairs of this tower one day in 1556, he slipped, fell and received injuries from which he later died. The Qila-i-Kuhran Mosque, or Mosque of Sher Shah, lies just beyond it and unlike the fort itself, is in a fairly reasonable condition. There's a small archaeological museum just inside the main gate. There are good views of New Delhi from atop the gate.

Courtesy --- karthik.N