Friday, June 1, 2012

The Architectural Might - Gwalior Fort

Gwalior is an important historical tourist destination in Madhya Pradesh with an array of beautiful monuments, museums and palaces. All these landmarks have been witnessed to numerous ups and downs and have gone through the test of times. These also are rich in history and boast of architectural designs and styles.






Gwalior Fort is well known as most impregnable fortress of North and Central India. It was Raja Man Singh Tomar who constructed this magnificent structure in 15th century. This Fort bounded by solid walls of sandstone, situated in Gopachal is sprawled over an area of 3 square km and stands 35 feet high.


Gwalior Fort consist of two main entrances, North East and South West gates. It has impressive, interesting and historic sites. There are temples, palaces and a number of water tanks housed within the fort. Moreover, the southern path is bounded with intricately curve out rock faces which drawn out inspiration from Jain tirthankars.


The Teli-ka-Mandir Temple in the Gwalior Fort is patterned from Dravidian-style architecture. This 9th century temple has lavishly done-up sculpted exterior which is really a wonder to look at. While the 2 Saas-Bahu Temples that are located adjacent to each other comprised of many pillars. One of these is larger in size. Another 9th century temple housed at the Fort is The Chaturbhuj Mandir which is an example of a Vaishnavite shrine.


The Man Singh Palace located in Gwalior Fort is most prominent 15th century palace built by Man Singh. This amazingly embellished painted palace with vivid pattern and styled tiles comprised of four levels. This palace also served as a prison palace of Murad, the brother of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and later on killed by Aurangzeb. The rich architecture of the Fort of Gwalior is a marvel to behold.

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