A fort stood on this rise beside the Ravi long before the Mughals, but the Lahore Fort we see today began in 1566, when Emperor Akbar rebuilt it in brick as a base for his northern campaigns. Each emperor after him added his own palace, hall or garden, so walking through the fort is like turning the pages of Mughal history.
Jahangir added quarters and began the famous Picture Wall, covered in tile and fresco scenes of elephants, polo matches and hunts. Shah Jahan built the white marble halls, the Naulakha Pavilion and the Sheesh Mahal, the Palace of Mirrors, whose ceilings glitter with thousands of tiny pieces of glass. Aurangzeb gave the fort its grand Alamgiri Gate, facing the Badshahi Mosque.
Later, Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled from here, and the British used it as a garrison. In 1981 UNESCO listed the fort, together with the Shalimar Gardens, as a World Heritage Site.
