Place · island fort · India
Salimgarh Fort
The 1546 island fortress on the Yamuna between the Red Fort and Yamuna river, built by Islam Shah Suri (son of Sher Shah) in 1546 to accommodate a fallback royal residence against Mughal attempts to reclaim Delhi. Salimgarh was linked to the Red Fort by a bridge after Shah Jahan's 1648 Shahjahanabad construction. The British used Salimgarh as a prison from 1857 onwards; the Indian National Army officers tried in the 1945-46 Red Fort trials (Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon) were held here. The INA trials opened in the Red Fort proper on 5 November 1945 and became a nationalist cause célèbre that accelerated the end of British rule. The fort was part of the UNESCO 2007 Red Fort inscription.
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 28.656, 77.243
Connections (2)
- CampaignKashmere Gate
Kashmere Gate was blown in on 14 September 1857 and the assault columns fought their way to the Red Fort; Salimgarh beside it became the prison for those taken. Eighty-eight years later the same fort held the INA officers before their trial. The city's northern defences and its gaol are one sequence in 1857 and again in 1945.
- Site withinDelhi
Salimgarh Fort lies within Delhi — the two sites sit about 6 km apart, well inside the city's historical boundary and part of the same urban or peri-urban landscape. Salimgarh Fort is one of the specific sites that give Delhi its layered character, and reads differently when seen as a stop within the larger city rather than as an isolated monument on an open map. The surrounding neighbourhoods, roads and other heritage ensembles belong to the same single urban fabric.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Salimgarh Fort”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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