6 Impressive Walled Cities in India for Heritage Tourism
India is having a history of the well planned cities to cater the needs of its people. In the past, most of the kingdoms built walls to protect their kingdom from the enemy’s attack.
In India, there are several cities which have larger walls which encircle the whole city! In this article, we have compiled a list of the most impressive walled cities in India for the heritage tourism.
6 Impressive Walled Cities in India for Heritage Tourism
1. Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Ahmedabad is the commercial capital of the state and one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The city was founded on the bank of the river Sabarmati by Ahmed Shah in 1411 AD. To protect from the possible attacks from the enemy, Mahmud Begda decided to build walls to encircle the city to protect from invasion.
The original wall had 12 gates, 189 bastions, and over 6,000 battlements. Ahmedabad is one of the oldest walled cities in India. As of now, many heritage gates exists in the city, which are Shahpur Gate, Kalupur Gate, Jamalpur Gate, Sarangpur Gate and more.
2. Old Delhi
Old Delhi was the capital of the Mughal Empire, which was founded by Shahjahan in 1639 as Shahjahanabad. To protect from invasion, the emperor Shah Jahan built the walled city from 1638 to 1649.
The city was encircled with 14 gates covering the land of 6.1 square km. As of now, many heritage gates are still exists such as the Delhi Gate, Lahore Gate Red Fort, Purana Qila, and more.
3. Hyderabad
Hyderabad was also a walled city, located on the banks of the river Musi. The old city was built by Qutb Shahi sultan Muhammaed Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 AD. There are several gates in the old city which are still exists such as the Dabeerpura Gate. Only a few acres of walls exist in the city.
4. Mumbai, Maharashtra
Mumbai was a walled city and there were three wall gates in the old city known as Bombay. There were two gates, The Church Gate, The Bazaar Gate and The Apollo gate. The walls were built by the East India company to protect their interest.
5. Jaipur, Rajasthan
There were many walled cities in the state of Rajasthan to protect their kingdom, Jaipur was one of them. The walls were six meters in height and three meters thick. There were seven gates in the walled city, Ajmeri Gate, Zorawar Singh Gate, Chandpole, New Gate, Ghat Gate, Samrat Gate, Surajpole and Sanganeri Gate.
6. Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Chennai was a walled city in India, which is the modern capital of the state of Tamil Nadu. To protect from the French and Hyder Ali, the British partially built the walls in 1772. The walls covered the area of 3.5 miles and had 17 bastions.
Article last re-published on January 21, 2020.
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