Every Independence Day, from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi, the Prime Minister of India raises the national flag and addresses the nation.
That ritual has continued since 15 August 1947. But the fort behind them was already almost 300 years old that morning — commissioned in 1638 by Emperor Shah Jahan as the palace-fortress of his new imperial capital, Shahjahanabad.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007, it is both a Mughal masterpiece and the enduring stage of modern Indian democracy.
Shah Jahan’s New Capital
Shah Jahan moved his court from Agra to Delhi in the 1630s. The fort took nearly a decade to complete — its foundations laid on an auspicious date chosen by court astronomers.
The two-kilometre curtain wall of red sandstone that gives the fort its name enclosed palaces, gardens, courts of justice, audience halls and quarters for the royal household, guards and craftsmen — a small city within a city.
The Yamuna river once lapped its eastern wall; today it has shifted, and city traffic rushes past instead.
Inside the Fort
Enter through Lahori Gate — the same one from which the tricolour flies. Beyond it lies Chatta Chowk, an unusual covered bazaar that once sold silks, silver and jewellery to the imperial court.
The Diwan-i-Aam (Hall of Public Audience) is a red-sandstone pavilion where the emperor heard petitions from his subjects. The Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience) housed the fabled Peacock Throne — inlaid with jewels, later carried off to Persia by Nadir Shah in 1739.
The Rang Mahal, Khas Mahal and Hammam form a chain of white-marble palaces along the eastern rampart, decorated with pietra dura and cooled by a channel of water — the Nahr-i-Bihisht, or "Stream of Paradise" — that once ran through all of them.
A Sound and Light Show After Dark
The nightly sound-and-light show recounts the fort’s history from Shah Jahan through the 1857 uprising, the exile of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, and Independence.
It is one of the most theatrical ways to grasp the fort’s layered role in Indian history.
Getting There
The Red Fort is on the eastern edge of Old Delhi, five minutes’ walk from Chandni Chowk metro station.
Open daily except Mondays. Arrive early to avoid the peak crowds and to have time to walk to Jama Masjid, the Sunehri Masjid and the food streets of Chandni Chowk afterwards.