Agra Fort

Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

After wandering for hours around Taj Mahal, I walked over to Agra Fort, because it wasn't that far. Besides, the purely normal along the way would likely contain something new to me.

fort from a distance — From far outside the walls of the fort, looking to the many buildings within.

The fort is impressive just to approach. Walls are built of brick and covered over in red sandstone that is quite striking. So far removed from thinking of the strategies of defending a piece of land, the many layers for defending armies to guard within, the slits to shoot from, the way the lowest wall is shaped to make repelling climbers easier all looks artistic. It all looks quite formidable, although it seems to have changed hands quite a few times.

some of wall and gardens — Plenty of grassy grounds around the formidable wall.

more fort wall — More of the details of the outer wall.

not much water within the moat — The walls are a little higher than they look at first because there is the moat to get over, too.

The gates have draw bridges for the moat, plenty of space for terror to rain down once through the first layer, then around a corner is another gate with more defenses. Upon them are carvings and inlay, so they really are meant to be a thing of beauty as well. Or they became that way as it was built up.

decorative details on the gate — Details of the inner Amar Singh Gate.

less decorative inside — Looking back out. It is less decoration from inside, but there are spaces to hide within the hallway.

There was quite a crowd within, but not quite so many as the better known Taj Mahal. They also have a lot more room to spread out in. This seems to lead to a few more wildlife sightings.

4 parrots on bare walls — A few parrots hiding out in a plain place.

not parrots — Parrots are not the only birds to be found.

Not that there were not plenty of other tourists around. There is always someone nearby.

within walls and gates — Walking the walkways.

There is a whole city of sorts within. The emperors lived here in 1500s and 1600s with family and plenty of servants and all needed to keep all of it ticking along.

white marble buildings with domes — One of the mosques found within the fort.

The repeating archways of the Diwan-i-Am, Hall of Public Audience, caught my eye quite a lot. The tomb of John Russell Colvin, the lieutenant-governor of the North-west Provinces of India who died of cholera on a rather inopportune date, caught my eye in quite a different way.

hall with the tomb in front — Diwan-i-Am. The tomb was apparently given a rather grandiose spot in the center of the courtyard but simply because he could not be taken anywhere while India took its independence.

archways forever — Basking in the repeating archways of Diwan-i-Am.

I found many of the same decorative elements that are in the Taj Mahal also among the white marble buildings of Agra Fort and some of the elements were simply repeated from the older red sandstone areas.

white marble decorative elements — Carved elements by the mosque.

entry area for the mosque — Domes and entry area of the mosque.

above a hallway with a crowd — The hallways around the edges and a spot to look out.

Not all of the interesting spots to be were marked by crowds, but usually a crowd could be relied upon to have found a nice spot for at least a glance. I headed over to where the crowd above was standing in view of the river.

outside wall and Taj Mahal — They were standing with a view out over the outside wall, the river, and Taj Mahal.

transition of marble to sandstone — Detail of the wall. The material changes from white marble to sandstone and below the area is overgrown.

more decorative to the right — Off to the right from that high point.

The crowd included a younger boy who told me, "Welcome to India!" After 3 weeks in India, I had heard this line quite a lot. The little kid, proudly using some English he had just learned, somehow was the only one who ever sounded genuine. The young men all too often add in a leer. Then, of course, more wandering. Sometimes back to the same places.

more of the mosque — More mosque detail. (I think.)

decorative garden courtyard — There are decorative gardens here too.

A metal dome stands out above decorative elements that repeat from the Taj Mahal.

latice work — The lattice work in the white marble screens are also similar.

recessed and inlay and interesting shapes — All kinds of elaborate work.

While many decorative elements among the white marble areas are the same as seen before, there is much variety. The fort holds simpler areas as well.

small brick courtyard — A brick courtyard. Some plaster remains from covering these.

The older sandstone covered buildings have a different style.

sandstone and marble — White marble accents on red sandstone.

decaying carved elements — Decorative elements over the sandstone now falling away in decay.

side of a courtyard detail — Detail along the side of one courtyard.

fenced grass again — Back to the main areas of fenced grass.

While many of the brick and sandstone buildings were pulled down to put up the white marble ones, many more came down under under the British. Much of the fort is an archaeological area. Some is crumbling, some is down to the ground already, some is buried.

brick floors and some wall — Exploring the less complete areas.

decayed stairs — Stairs have gone a bit.

some decay of a wall by a dome — A wall showing within a bit much.

some steps to a gate — I found bats behind one locked gate. This may have been it.

seems elaborate — It seems curiously elaborate when stripped of its parts. Somehow.

As the sun got low and closing time got close, I still had places to wander.

monkeys on the wall — Another spot overlooking the outer wall found monkeys grooming each other.

tower from the side — One of the tower bulges along the defensive wall.

more pieces — More courtyards surrounded by not quite complete buildings.

wall detail — Another look at the walls.

And eventually it was time to find a way back to the train station. The fort closed around 5PM and my train did not leave until a little after 8PM, so there was quite a time still to fill. The only rides I could find were bicycle rickshaws, which I felt uncomfortable in taking. Obviously, they have no such discomfort. I agreed to a price from one fellow and then he says he can take me on a long tour of the shops on the way to take up some of the time until the train. He adds that I do not have to worry about the extra time it will take because the shops will pay him for bringing a tourist around even if I do not buy anything. And so I toured a few shops and killed a bit of time before heading down to the trains, which were running late.

When a train finally pulled up at the right time and place, I hopped on it with a little worry about the numbers, but I had not seen the front. I squeezed past a lot of partying people to my seat. The only two people not partying were where I should be. We established as the train pulled out that it was indeed the wrong train, so off I went. The other way, not past the partiers. In a bit of a hurry. With nothing to prevent me from jumping from the (slow) moving train, I could fix my mistake. And, yeah, did the jump from a moving train thing. You see it quite a lot.

©2010,2018 Valerie Norton
Posted 11 May 2018