Forts of Pakistan

Forts of Pakistan

LAHORE FORT, LAHORE

The vivid portrait of the mughal heritage.

Build around 1021 AD

Situated in the North West corner of the walled city of Lahore, the fort was destroyed and rebuild several times by the early mughals during 13^th to 15^th centuries. It is characterized by masonry of brick and red sandstone courses relieved by motifs including zoomorphic corbels, luxurious marbles, inlays of precious material and mosaics.

RANIKOT FORT, JAMSHORO

Build in the 17^th century

The great wall of the sindh also known as dewar e sindh is the world’s largest fort with a circumference of about 26 km. it is reputed to be largest unexplored fort in the world. Archaeologists point to the 17^th century as its time of first construction but the present structure was reconstructed by Mir karam Ali khan talpur and his brother Mir Murad Ali in 1812

PAKKA QILA, HYDERABAD

Built in 1768

Hyderabad Sindh is city of Hillocks. Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro of the Kalhora Dynasty founded the city in 1768. It was a small fishing village on the banks of Indus. Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhora ordered the construction of this fort in 1768 on one of the three hills of Hyderabad to house and defends his people. The fort since then is called the “Pacco Qillo”.

ROHTAS FORT, JEHLUM

The Garrison Fort

Build in 1545

Built by Sher Shah Suri, the fort is about 4km in circumference. It was constructed on a hillock where the tiny Kahan river meets another rainy stream called Parnal Khas and turns east towards Tilla Jogian Range. Irregular in shape and following the contours of the hill it was constructed on, most of the fort was built with ashlar stones and bricks.

ATTOCK FORT, ATTOCK

The elan of Mughal architecture

Attock fort was built at Attock Khurd during the reign of Akbar from 1581 to 1583 under the supervision of Khawaja Shamsuddin Khawafi to protect the passage of the Indus. Purely a military post design, its form is that of a parallelogram; it is 800 yards long an 400 yards wide. It featured a prominent role in the Afghan-Sikh Wars during the Battle of Attock.

BALAHISAR FORT, PESHAWAR

Built in the 16th century

Bala Hisar Fort is one of the most his am p aces of Peshawar. The word Bala Hisar is from Persian, meaning, “elevated or high fort”. According to Dr. Hussain Khan, the name was given by the Afghan King Timur Shah Durrani (1773-1793). The Sikhs who conquered Peshawar in the early 19th century named it Samir Garh in 1834 but the name did not become popular.

BALTIT FORT, HUNZA

The Fort of the Balti people

Build in 14t century

The rich beauty of Baltit Fort can be traced to over seven hundred years ago. Baltistan means the land of Balti people. It had a strong cultural and ethnical relation with the Ladakh territory of India. Consequently, the structure of Baltit Fort was influenced by the Ladakhi / Tibetan architecture, with some resemblance to the Potala palace in Lahasa.

DERAWAR FORT, CHOLISTAN

A rand structure in the middle of nowhere

Built in the 17th century

The best-preserved and most accessible of Cholistan’s historic remains is this dramatic fort, 4Skm south of Dera Nawab. The first fort on the site was built by Hindu Rajput, Rai Jajja Bhati of laisalmer. It remained in the hands of the royal family of Jaisalmer until captured and completely rebuilt by Sadiq Mohammed Khan I, the first Nawab of Bahawalpur in 1733. The fort has 40 enormous bastions, and it stands more than 30m high with a circumference of 1.5km.

KATAS FORT, KALLAR KAHAR

The SITE Of holy pilgrimage for various faiths

Build In the 6^th Century

Katas Fort is a Hindu mandir situated in Katas village in the Chakwal district of Punjab. Dedicated to Shiva, the temple has existed since the days of Mahabharata and the Pandava brothers spent a substantial part of their exile at the site. The holy pond and the murals inside the temples disappeared due to the ravages of time and neglect.

KHAPLU FORT HUNZA

Also known as Raja’s Palace

Build in 19^th century

Stands on a flat piece of land, the Khaplu Fort lies near an earlier mud fort constructed on a hill. The palace is one of the most magnificent 19th century buildings in the Northern Areas. A rectangular Baltistan palace plan type, it is constructed of stone masonry, reinforced with timber members and rendered in lime plaster.

ALTIT FORT, HUNZA

The Tibetan finesse

Build in the 11th century.

The Fort was built by Abdullah Khan the ruler of Baltistan for his daughter who got married to a prince of Hunza. Altit Fort is more than one thousand years old and the shikari tower is 1100 years old which makes it the oldest monument in the Gilgit-Baltistan area.

KOT DIJI FORT, KHAIRPUR

The ancestral Home of Royal House

Build in 1785 & 1795

The fort was built by Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur, founder of the Kingdom of Upper Sindh in 1783. Kot Diji fort is constructed on a limestone hill with kiln-baked bricks. The fort is over half a kilometre long. About 50 bastions segment its walls, and its 1.8 km outer perimeter wall identically follows the double crescent-shaped contours of the hill it stands on.