Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri, located some 40km from Agra in Uttar Pradesh was built by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar, in 1571 to celebrate the birth of his son Salim and to honor the wise saint Shaikh Salim Chisti. It remained his capital for a brief period of 10 years, post which he fought the Afghanis and shifted his capital to Lahore.

The city is reflects true Indian Architecture, and is well planned with several buildings, mosques, living areas for courts and servant quarters, etc. Surrounded by a 6km fortified wall on three sides, an artificial lake was created during the Mughal reign on the fourth side. Today the lake is only a partial dried water body.

Most of the monuments and the structures that one sees around are made from red stone. The main attractions found in the guarded city include the Diwan-I-Am, Diwan-I-Khas Buland Darwaza, and the Jama Masjid.

Diwan-I-am, also known as the Hall of Public Audience, is where the King would conduct meetings to solve the problems of the general public. Diwan-i-Khas is known as the Hall of Private Audience was where the king organized meetings with his ministers for drafting different policies.

Buland Darwaza was built by Akbar in 1601 A.D in order to celebrate his victory over Gujarat. In Persian, a Buland Darwaza means ‘high’ or ‘great’ gate. Like all other monuments in the city, this one too embodies red sandstone, and carries numerous Islamic inscriptions written in Persian.

The Buland Darwaza is part of the Jama Masjid Complex in the city. While the mosque was completed by Shiekh Salim Chisti, the Buland Darwaza was later added by Akbar.

Fatehpur Sikri is only 295 km from the capital and it takes less than 3 hours to reach here. Most tourists plan to visit Agra and Fatehpur Sikri in a single trip due to the proximity of the two major ancient Mughal cities in the country.