The Red Fort

This post is going to be kind of picture-heavy, but here goes...  

We took our first real "touristy" family outing this weekend and visited the Red Fort in New Delhi. Everyone has heard of the Taj Mahal, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1653. Although the Taj Mahal is widely regarded as the height of Mughal architecture, Shah Jahan was also responsible for building the Red Fort when he decided to move the capital of India from Agra to Delhi in 1638.  Construction of the Red Fort took only 10 years, which when you see the size and scale of the buildings you realize just how amazing that is.  The Red Fort is located on the Yamuna River, which increased its defensive capabilities by feeding the huge moats that surrounded most of the walls and also enabled an ingenious system of man made rivers to flow through the imperial palace, but more on that later!  The walls and defensive towers enclosed essentially an entire city, which housed traders and soldiers as well as the imperial palaces.  The outer structures, the walls, towers battlements, etc. are made of red sandstone which gives the fort its name, but many of the interior buildings were made of marble.  

Our journey started about a mile away from the Red Fort at the parking lot where our driver dropped us off.  Instead of walking we decided to take a bicycle rickshaw to the fort entrance for about $1.50. It was a very hot day and we knew we would be walking around quite a bit in the fort so we thought this would save our energy a bit.  Here's a picture of Ryan and Greg as we were taking off from the parking area.

And Conor, looking ready for anything.

Here's where we realize that we will be going down the wrong side of a very busy street, the only two fish swimming up a very crowded stream!

Which isn't so bad when it is only other rickshaws and autos on the road...

...and this guy pushing a cart of rebar...

...but then it got a bit more crowded...

...with things like buses!

But we made it, and here's the proof!

The boys in front of the Red Fort.  This is a historically significant place for Indians.  When they won their independence from England in 1947, the first prime minister raised the Indian national flag above this gate.  On each subsequent Independence Day, the prime minister has raised the flag and given a speech that is broadcast nationally. 

Our first (of VERY MANY!) photo shoots with Indian tourists.  After starring in many a Chinese family photo album it looks like our boys will be finding their way into quite a few Indian albums as well.  This was early in the day when it was still a novelty.  By the end of the day when we were just trying to leave and had people pleading "just one more picture with my friend" it was much harder to smile politely.  Luckily most people were just as happy taking pictures with Greg and me, as Ryan got tired of this very early on.

Beautiful hand carvings are everywhere in the red sandstone, it is really quite amazingly beautiful.

I decided to take a selfie with Conor in front of one of the main meeting halls, but my aim was off. You'll have to trust me, this is in front of a beautiful building!

The administrative and fiscal strength of the Mughals declined in the late 17th and early 18th century, leading to a degeneration of the fort and palace.  Many conquering forces used the resources from the fort, melting down silver ceilings, tearing down jewels encased in murals, selling furniture etc. to fund their new governments.  This went on right up through the English rule when much of the fort itself was torn down or changed to be used as barracks, and looting of the fort's treasures was sanctioned to pay for the occupation and defense.  The fort is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and there is evidence throughout of attempts to repair some of what has been destroyed and preserve and display what remains. 

One of the most advanced elements of the architecture at the Red Fort, and something that we very much wished was still a functioning element of the fort when we visited, was a sort of early form of air conditioning that cooled the imperial apartments and some of the surrounding pavilions.  They were all connected by a water channel known as the "Stream of Paradise" which flowed throughout the gardens and structures and would have offered a nice break from the heat.  You can see in these pictures a channel that was part of this system, but the entire stream is dry now.

Here we are standing in what was a little lake, completely surrounding a small "pleasure palace" that was a place to entertain and relax for the imperial family.