Phillaur Fort or Maharaja Ranjit Singh Fort is located on the

Grand Trunk Road The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...

Phillaur Phillaur is a city and a municipal council as well as a tehsil in Jalandhar district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Punjab, India, Punjab. Overview Phillaur is the railway junction on the border line of Ludhiana Main ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

, India. During the reign of Shah Jahan (1628-1658) an Imperial sarai was constructed here and in 1809 it was rebuilt as a fort under the rule of

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

Ranjit Singh (1780–1839). It was designed by Dewan Mohkam Chand, with the assistance of Ranjit Singh's French and Italian generals. It was constructed as a response to the British, who built a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in nearby

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...

. In 1846 the British took control of the fort following the defeat of the Sikhs at the

Battle of Aliwal The Battle of Aliwal was fought on 28 January 1846 between the British and Sikh forces in northern India (now Punjab). The British were led by Sir Harry Smith,Smith, Sir Harry. ‘'The Autobiography of Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Smith Bar ...

. The fort remained under the control of the army until 1890 when it was transferred to the civil authorities, who used it as a police training centre. On 6 April 1973 it was renamed as 'Maharaja Ranjit Singh Fort' by the Punjab Government. Since 1981 it has been used as the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy. It also home to Pir Baba Abdullah Shah Ji's Shrine (also known as Pir-i-Dastgir or Abdul Kadir Galani) and as such local Muslims consider it a holy place. The fort also contains several tombs of Muslim icons and members of Shah Shuja's family.

Architecture

The fort's architecture has a distinct European character, with channels dug out along the boundary of the fort, watchtowers on the two gateways, four bastions on four nooks high walls around the fort.

Gallery

File:"Loodianah, on the Sutlej"*.jpg, The Fort of Phulloor, on the Punjaub side of the Sutlej in 1846 File:Fort of "Philoor" (Phillaur) on the Sutlej River, built by Maharaja Ranjeet Singh.jpg, Fort of "Philoor" (Phillaur) on the Sutlej River, ca.1858–61

References

External links

* Forts in Punjab, India Monuments and memorials in Punjab, India {{India-struct-stub