Agra Fort

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Agra Fort, also called the Red Fort of Agra, is a huge historic fort in the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh, India. The Mughal emperor Akbar rebuilt it in red sandstone between 1565 and 1573 on the site of an older brick fort known as Badalgarh. It has a half-circle shape, with its straight side facing the Yamuna river, and it stands about 2.5 kilometres northwest of the Taj Mahal.

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At a glance

Country: India
Location: Agra, India
Built: 1573
Type: Fort

Quick answers

Where is Agra Fort?

Agra Fort is in Agra, India.

When was Agra Fort built?

Agra Fort was built in 1573.

Red sandstone fortress-palace of the Mughal emperors; from its white marble pavilions Shah Jahan could see the Taj Mahal.

The fort was the main home of the Mughal rulers until 1638, when the capital was moved to Delhi. Much of what you see inside comes from Akbar's grandson Shah Jahan, who added white marble palaces and mosques after 1628. In 1983 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The last Indian rulers to hold it were the Marathas, before the British captured it in 1803.

Before the Mughals

The fort is older than the Mughal empire. The earliest written mention of a fort at Agra comes from accounts of a raid between 1068 and 1070, and a Persian poet compared it to a mountain with battlements like peaks. Later, Sikandar Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi, moved his capital to Agra and developed the fort, and he died there in 1517. After the Mughals took over in 1526, Humayun was crowned in the fort in 1530.

Akbar's red fort

Akbar made Agra his capital in 1558 and found the old brick fort in ruins. In 1565 he ordered it rebuilt, with red sandstone from the Dhaulpur area over a brick core. About 4,000 workers laboured every day for eight years. Parts of Akbar's work still stand, including the Delhi Gate, the Amar Singh Gate and the Jahangiri Mahal.

Shah Jahan and his prison

Shah Jahan preferred white marble. Inside the fort he added the Diwan-i-Am, the Diwan-i-Khas, the Khas Mahal, the Moti Masjid and the Musamman Burj. After a fight among his sons, Aurangzeb won and placed his father under house arrest in the Musamman Burj, where Shah Jahan stayed until his death in 1666. By legend he spent his last years gazing at the Taj Mahal from the tower.

Fun facts

Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, spent his last years confined here with a view of it.
About 4,000 workers a day built the fort over eight years.
It is shaped like a half circle, with its straight side along the Yamuna river.
Shah Jahan was kept a prisoner in the Musamman Burj, from where legend says he looked at the Taj Mahal.
A large part of the fort is still run by the Indian Army and closed to the public.