RED FORT
Red Fort (“Lal Qila”) the imperial citadel got its name from the red sandstone battlements. Shah Jahan commissioned the Red Fort in the year 1639 which took nine years to construct and remained the seat of Moghal power till 1857 when Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor was dethroned and exiled.
The Red Fort is a powerful symbol of Indian national hood. The national flag was hoisted for the first time on 15th august 1947 when India becomes an independent nation
The Lahore Gate is the point of entry which is one of the fort’s six gateways leading on to the covered bazaar of CHATTA CHOWK. The Naqqar Khana, a pavilion where ceremonial music was played r=three times a day lies beyond. A path from here lesds to the DIWN_I_AAM, a red sandstone hall supported on 60 pillars where the emperor sat below the lavishly carved stone canopy with his chief minister occupying the low bench before it, giving daily audience to the public. The tang Mahal lies beyond this hall having an interior of gilded ahambers with an inlaid marble foundation shaped like an open lotus.
The Khas Mahal is a structure where the emperor’s royal apartments were equipped with special rooms for private workshop and sleeping. The Tosh Khana (“Robe Room”) is adorned with an intricate marble jalli scaeen caved with the scale of justice, a motif design incorporated in many minature paintings.
To the north of the Khas Mahal Throne embedded with priceless gems was kept here until it was whisked away as war booty by Nadir Shah, the Persian chieftain in 1739. The emperor met his most trusted nobles in this elite pavilion, the walls and pillars of which were once inlaid with precious stones with its silver gem-studded ceiling.
Further away away are the marble flooded Hammers ( Royal Baths ) with three enclosures, the first of which provided hot vapor, the second scented rosewater through sculpted fountains and the third cold water.
The elegant little Moti Masjid (“Pearl Mosque”) getting its name from the pearly sheen of its marble, built by Emperor Aurangzeb in 1659, lies to the west of the barhs.
