The Red Fort Complex (India) Cartagena, 1993)
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This is a deferred nomination (17th extraordinary session, The Red Fort Complex (India) Cartagena, 1993). No 231 rev A first nomination dossier was examined by the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee at its 17th extraordinary session (Cartagena, 1993). At the time, ICOMOS recommended that: “the inscription of this property be Official name as proposed deferred until the handover of the major portion of the by the State Party: The Red Fort Complex monument to the Archaeological Survey of India has been completed and statutory protection has been extended to Location: Delhi entire monument.” Brief description: The Bureau of the World Heritage Committee approved the following recommendation: The Red Fort was the palace fort of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan's new capital, Shahjahanabad. It gets its name “The Indian authorities provided additional information on from its massive enclosing walls of red sandstone. the legal protection of historical sites, indicating that all sites have a protection area of 100 meters and a buffer Originally known as ‘Qala-a-Mubarak’a’ - the auspicious zone of 300 meters. ICOMOS emphasized that there is a Citadel - the fort was built together with the city, by long conservation tradition in India and that the protection Shahjahan, fifth Mughal Emperor of India (1628-58) when meets World Heritage requirements. In the case of Red he moved his capital from Agra. It is adjacent to an older Fort, however, major parts of the site are under the fort, the Salimgarh, built by Islam Shah Sur in 1546, authority of the army. ICOMOS therefore recommended to separated originally by a river and now by a road. Together defer this nomination until these parts of the Fort have the Red Fort and the Salimgarh Fort are known as the Red been handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India. Fort Complex The Bureau endorsed this recommendation.” The extensive walls originally faced a moat. Two gates The previous nominations covered a smaller area, give access to the bazaar, audience chamber and series of encompassing only the Red Fort and not the Salimgarh finely proportioned palace rooms, lavishly decorated in Fort. white marble. The private apartments consist of a row of pavilions connected by a continuous water channel, known A new revised nomination dossier was submitted to as the Nahr-i-Behisht, or the Stream of Paradise. The UNESCO on 31 January 2006. palace was designed as an imitation of paradise as described in the Koran; a couplet inscribed in the palace Consultations: ICOMOS consulted its International reads, ‘If there be a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here’. Scientific Committee on Fortifications and Military Heritage. The planning of the palace is based on Islamic prototypes, but each pavilion reveals architectural elements typical of Literature consulted (selection): Mughal building, reflecting a fusion of Persian, Timurid and Hindu traditions. The Red Fort is considered to Koch, Ebba, Mughal Architecture, 1991. represent the zenith of Mughal creativity under the Emperor Shahjahan. After 1857, some structures were Mukherji, Anisha Shekhar, The Red Fort of Shahjahanabad, demolished by the British and replaced by military Delhi, 2003. barracks buildings. Tillotson, Giles, Mughal India, 1990. Category of property: Technical Evaluation Mission: 19–22 September 2006 In terms of the categories of cultural property set out in Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this is a Additional information requested and received from the State Party: ICOMOS sent a letter to the State Party on monument. 11 December 2006, and the State Party submitted additional information on 9 January 2007. ICOMOS sent a 1. BASIC DATA letter of request of supplementary information on 31 January 2007 and the State party submitted information Included in the Tentative List: 16 March 2005 on the 27 February 2007. International Assistance from the World Heritage Fund for Date of ICOMOS approval of this report: 11 March 2007 preparing the Nomination: No Date received by 2. THE PROPERTY the World Heritage Centre: 15 October 1982 26 October 1992 Description 31 January 2006 The Red Fort Complex along with the earlier Salimgarh Background: Fort occupies an area of around 120 acres. 97 The Red Fort was built by the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan • Palace pavilions and the Nah-i-Bihisht, Stream of as part of his new capital Shajahanabad in the mid 17th Paradise century. The structure of the new planned city drew inspiration from Isfahan, the Persian Capital, and reflected • Diwan-i-Khas, Hall of Private Audience the power and grandeur of the Mughal court. The Fort was the focal point of the city, strategically sited at the end of • Hammam Baths the primary axis and next to the Yamuna River. It abuts the earlier fort of Salimgarh, constructed on an island in the • Moti Masjid, Pearl Mosque river and linked to the Red Fort by a bridge. • Hayat-Baksh Bagh, Lifegiving Garden Construction of the Fort was begun in April, 1639 and completed in 1648. Its massive red sandstone walls – from • British period buildings which it gets its name – enclose an area 656 by 328 metres and rise to 23 metres in height. Salimgarh Fort Since it was built, the Fort has been added to and some These are considered in turn: parts demolished. Additions include the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) built by Shahjahan's son and successor Red Fort Aurangzeb in 1659-60, and additions by the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. After 1857, many structures • Walls, bastions and gates within the fort were demolished by the British who erected colonial style military buildings in their place, and Along the red sandstone walls are at intervals bastions transformed the Mughal gardens into English gardens, surmounted by domed kiosks. The two principal entrances interrupting the spatial planning within the Red Fort. An are the Lahori Gate and the Delhi Gate. The Lahori gate equally profound change has been brought by the river was the ceremonial public entrance used by visitors and the changing its course and moving further east; its original emperor himself. It consists of three storeys between two line between the two forts is now taken by the Inner Delhi semi-octagonal towers topped by a delicate, seven arch Ring Road. arcade with white domes flanked by two minarets. The Delhi Gate was used mainly by soldiers and all other Within the enclosing walls, the spatial organisation and people working in the fort. architectural attributes of the ensemble of Mughal monuments display most of the main day-to-day activities • Chhatta Chowk, palace market of Shahjahan’s court, which at its height accommodated some 3,000 people. The Lahori gate leads directly into Chhatta Chowk, a vaulted arcade formerly used as the palace market. The Red Fort was the first Mughal palace fort developed on the basis of a geometrical grid pattern set within an • Naubat Khana or Naqqarkhana Drum House octagonal form, (and within an octagonal city plan). The architecture of the Red Fort is based on the concept of From the market access leads to the Naubat Khana or pavilion structures, set within the grid. The primary Naqqarkhana (Drum House), a three-storey rectangular building material is brick, clad with sandstone or marble. building. Here grand arrivals were serenaded by musicians The buildings were characterised by decorative elements and only princes could ride through on horseback beyond that synthesised Persian, European and Indian motifs this point. creating a unique Shahjahani style which incorporated intricate geometric compositions, pietra dura inlay, bright colours and flowing water. Shahjahan was the first to use • Diwan-i-Am, Hall of Public Audience tall, complex pierced marble jali partitions, based on hexagonal forms. These design elements were a The audience hall is based on the concept of an open forty culmination of those developed by preceding Mughal pillared hall, as used at Agra Fort. The rectangular hall is rulers. on a raised plinth with openings on three sides and three aisles deep with a façade of nine multiple arches. The Mughul remains contrast starkly with those from the Formalised tapering octagonal pillars with still leafed British period which reflect the basic requirements of an capitals and cusped arches supported a decorative inlaid occupying force. ceiling. The royal throne used to stand beneath a marble canopy at the back of the hall decorated with pietra dura The nominated Red Fort Complex consists of the and floral motifs inlaid with polychrome semi-precious following main elements: stones. Red Fort : • Palace pavilions and the Nah-i-Bihisht, Stream of Paradise • Walls, bastions and gates Proceeding further, there is a string of finely proportioned palace buildings parallel with the river course constructed • Chhatta Chowk, palace market of white marble, and raised up on platforms, all connected by the Nah-i-Bihisht (Stream of Paradise), which flowed • Naubat Khana or Naqqarkhana Drum House through them, its channel decorated differently in each • Diwan-i-Am, Hall of Public Audience 98 palace. Each building is different and yet each is in and 17th centuries, architectural styles from Persia came to harmony with the others. be fused with local Hindu traditions to create what became a distinctive Mughal style. This process was begun by the • Diwan-i-Khas, Hall of Private Audience first Mughal Emperor Babur (1526-1530), enlarged by the second Mughal Emperor Humayun who introduced the This is the most ornamental of all Shahjahan’s buildings, octagonal form for planning and building components. of white marble decorated with floral pietra dura patterns Under Shahjahan this was lifted to a delicate elegance and on the columns, with precious stones and gilding. Raised refinement of detail, illustrated in the magnificent palaces on a plinth it is open on all sides except where it faces the erected in his reign at Agra and Delhi, combining grandeur river and is enclosed by pierced jali panels.