Discover Purana Qila

Purana Qila, the Old Fort, is a walled citadel associated with Humayun’s city of Dinpanah and with Sher Shah Suri, who continued building after displacing him. Its roughly rectangular circuit extends for nearly two kilometres and preserves three monumental gates, the Qila-i-Kuhna Mosque and the octagonal Sher Mandal.

The name can be misleading: archaeology has found long occupation beneath and around the enclosure, but the standing fort is primarily a sixteenth-century work. It also carries modern histories—as a wartime internment site and, during Partition in 1947, a refugee camp.

The visit is strongest when treated as a landscape rather than two isolated buildings. Follow the ramparts and gates, compare Mughal and Sur-period elements, and leave time for the large open spaces between them.

A near two-kilometre wall circuit defines the fort. Thick ramparts, rounded bastions and three major gateways enclose a broad, mostly open interior.

The gates combine pointed arches with chhatris and brackets. This mixture makes the transition between late Sultanate and early Mughal design visible.

Two interior buildings provide the clearest contrast. The Qila-i-Kuhna Mosque is a broad prayer hall with a richly framed central bay; the Sher Mandal is a compact two-storey octagon.

Builders shaped a roughly rectangular enclosure behind thick rubble-and-masonry walls, using bastioned gates to control the main approaches. A moat once linked to the Yamuna along the eastern side.

Humayun’s and Sher Shah’s campaigns overlap, so attribution is not always cleanly divided. The gates use an Indo-Islamic vocabulary of pointed arches, domed kiosks, brackets and dressed-stone detail, while the Qila-i-Kuhna Mosque compresses richer ornament into its central façade.

Later uses required tents and temporary facilities rather than a new palace fabric. Conservation now has to preserve both the sixteenth-century structures and the archaeological ground that records earlier settlement.

Who built Purana Qila?

Humayun began Dinpanah, and Sher Shah Suri continued the fort and added major buildings after taking power.

Is it the oldest structure in Delhi?

No. Archaeology indicates older occupation, but the standing fort is mainly sixteenth century.

How large is it?

The wall circuit is nearly two kilometres.

What are the main buildings?

The Qila-i-Kuhna Mosque, Sher Mandal and three fortified gateways.

Why does Partition matter here?

The enclosure served as a large refugee camp for Muslims migrating to Pakistan in 1947–48.