Shah Jahan Moves the Capital to Delhi and Builds the Red Fort
A new walled city, Shahjahanabad, rises around a palace fort linked by a channel called the Stream of Paradise
Quick facts
- Commissioned
- 1639
- Completed
- 1648
- New capital
- Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi)
- UNESCO inscription
- 2007
What happened
Shah Jahan commissioned the Red Fort in 1639 as the palace fort of Shahjahanabad, the new Mughal capital he built at Delhi, completing it in 1648. Named for its massive red sandstone walls, the fort's private apartments consist of a row of pavilions connected by a continuous water channel known as the Nahr-i-Behisht, the Stream of Paradise. UNESCO's documentation describes the fort's design as a fusion of Persian, Timurid, and Hindu architectural traditions built on an Islamic layout, and identifies it as representing what UNESCO calls the zenith of Mughal creativity under Shah Jahan. White marble from the Makrana mines in Rajasthan, carved or inlaid with semi-precious stones in imitation of imported Florentine pietre dure panels, became the defining decorative style of his reign, seen across textiles, metalwork, and book painting as well as architecture.
Why it matters
Moving the capital from Agra to Delhi and building the Red Fort fixed Delhi as the empire's political center for the rest of Mughal history and for the British Raj afterward; it is the same fort where, more than two centuries later, the last Mughal emperor would be tried for his role in the 1857 rebellion. The building's fusion style also directly shaped later architecture across Rajasthan, Delhi, and Agra, according to UNESCO's assessment.
How we know
The Red Fort's construction dates and design are documented in UNESCO's official World Heritage inscription and description, drawn from surviving Mughal architectural records and the fort's own surviving structure.
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Red Fort Complex · Primary source (author-declared)whc.unesco.org · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Victoria and Albert Museum. The arts of the Mughal Empire · Reputable sourcevam.ac.uk · The domain "vam.ac.uk" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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