Agra Fort, an enormous red sandstone fortress on the bank of Yamuna River in the center of Agra. This fort is not just a military fortress, but also an imperial palace that was a power center of the whole Mogul Empire.

I visited Agra Fort on such a very important day, the day that Taj Mahal celebrated her 350th birthday. The celebration for Taj Mahal, but Indians celebrated in Agra Fort! Why? The answer is Indian Supreme Court did not allow celebrating in Taj Mahal so the celebrations have to move to the Fort. I do not understand the logic, the court want to protect Taj Mahal, a world heritage site, but they allow a grand party in Agra Fort which also a world heritage site and should receive equally protection! When I visited, the Hall of Public Audience was full with electronic machines that will make light and sound for the party, a lot of chairs and many polices, it was a really messy place. Thankfully that all such mess was not expand to other areas, the palace was still amazingly calm and made my mood back to normal. The palace in Agra Fort can be divided into two sections based on material, red sandstone and marble. The red sandstone buildings mean they were built before Shah Jahan or early years of his reign, the marble means they were built by Shah Jahan, an emperor who built Taj Mahal. The marble sections are absolutely breathtaking with marble inlay with colored stone and the view of Taj Mahal is incredible made me understood how sad of Shah Jahan when he was imprisoned and saw Taj Mahal everyday, so close but can not go there. The red sandstone sections were mainly built by Akbar for his son, Emperor Jahangir, with superb quality of stone carving similar to Fatehpur Sikri.

Agra Fort is a great place, the best place to understand how the imperial court of Mogul looked like as the lifestyle of each emperor can be seen in their private apartment. This place is a must for everyone who loves history and everyone who comes to Agra. One thing from Taj Mahal celebration, the old city of Agra was repainted in red colors, I didn’t know the city’s policy but if Agra wants to copy Jaipur’s Pink City tourist slogan and becomes Red City, I think they should invest their money that used for repainting on repairing roads in Agra’s old town which will make many tourists happier than seeing whole city in red!