Red Fort site features

The Red Fort occupies 49.1815 hectares within long, red-sandstone walls. From Lahore Gate, a vaulted market passage leads inward to the Naubat Khana. Beyond it, the site expands into open courts, lawns, museums and the surviving palace buildings.

The Diwan-i-Am presents a broad audience hall facing its court. Farther east, the white-marble pavilions form a lighter line along the former river edge. Screens, shallow arches and the narrow water channel give those buildings a different scale from the defensive walls.

The gaps matter visually. Instead of a continuous palace, isolated structures stand across grass and later military ground. Salimgarh lies beyond the northern edge, while the city presses close outside Lahore Gate.

Lahore Gate and Chhatta Chowk

1638–1648. The main gate leads into a roofed bazaar, compressing the approach before the palace courts appear.

Naubat Khana

1638–1648. The drum house marks the transition from public approach to imperial precinct.

Diwan-i-Am

1638–1648. A columned public audience hall faces a large court, with the emperor’s position fixed at the rear.

Diwan-i-Khas

1638–1648. The smaller marble audience pavilion belonged to the most restricted court zone and once held the Peacock Throne.

Nahr-i-Behisht

1638–1648. The Stream of Paradise linked the private pavilions as both water system and organising line.

British military layer

After 1857. Barracks and cleared ground record the conversion of a palace into a garrison.