Red Fort (Lahori Gate)

You're standing before the Qila-i-Mubarak, "the blessed fortress", known to everyone as the Red Fort for the colour of its sandstone. Shah Jahan ordered it built in 1639 and moved in in 1648. The design is attributed to Ustad Ahmad Lahori, the architect also linked to the Taj Mahal.

1A city within the city

Behind these walls, more than two kilometres around, lay audience halls, marble palaces, gardens, baths and a channel, the Nahr-i-Bihisht or "stream of paradise", that cooled the pavilions. The Peacock Throne stood here until 1739, when the Persian ruler Nadir Shah sacked Delhi and carried it off.

2The gate of speeches

The gate in front of you faces Lahore, hence its name. The barbican that shields it was added by Aurangzeb, Shah Jahan's son. The story goes that his father, by then a prisoner in Agra, wrote to him that he had drawn a veil over the face of a bride; it's a much-repeated anecdote, but there's no documentary proof.

In 1857 the fort was the heart of the uprising, with the elderly Bahadur Shah Zafar as the last emperor. Afterwards the British pulled down many of the palaces to make room for barracks. On 15 August 1947 Jawaharlal Nehru raised the flag of independent India here. Ever since, on every Independence Day, the prime minister addresses the nation from the ramparts of this gate.

3What to look for

• The chhatris, the domed pavilions above the gate.
• Aurangzeb's barbican, which hides the original arch.
• The moat, now dry, at the foot of the wall.