Qila Mubarak, Patialaਕਿਲ੍ਹਾ ਮੁਬਾਰਕ, ਪਟਿਆਲਾ

Where is Qila Mubarak, Patiala?

Qila Mubarak stands at the centre of old Patiala, and the city quite literally grew around it: the bazaars at its walls, Adalat Bazaar, Gur Mandi and the lanes near Anardana Chowk, still trade in its shadow. The complex covers about 10 acres and was the residential palace-fort of the Maharajas of Patiala. Its Persian name means the fort of felicity. Much of it is closed and in poor condition today, which gives a visit a double character: this is at once the most important historic building in Patiala and one of India's most endangered monuments.

How Patiala began with a mud fort in 1763

The fort was founded in 1763 by Baba Ala Singh, the Sidhu Jat chief who established the Patiala branch of the Phulkian dynasty. He first raised a kachigarhi, a fortress of mud and brick, paying for the work from the revenues of Sirhind, the city he had conquered a few years earlier. Local tradition says the new fort grew over an older Mughal fortress built by the governor Hussain Khan. Ala Singh's mud walls were later rebuilt in baked brick, and over the next century and a half his successors kept adding palaces and halls inside the walls, each in the taste of his own time.

The inner residence, Qila Androon, was built by Maharaja Amar Singh, whose thirteen royal chambers are painted with scenes from Hindu mythology in the Patiala style. The outer portions and the Ranivas came under Maharaja Karam Singh, who brought architects, artists and carpenters from Jaipur for the work. Sahib Singh, Karam Singh and Narinder Singh all lived here, and the art they commissioned fills the walls: around 1,090 murals across fifteen rooms, painted mostly between 1825 and 1850 by artists of the Mughal, Kangra, Shekhawati, Awadhi and Jaipuri schools.

The Darbar Hall, the museum and the sacred flame

Architecturally the complex refuses to sit in one style, because it was built by five generations of kings. Its bricks are the small Nanakshahi and lakhori bricks of the Sikh period, set in lime mortar under lime plaster. Qila Androon mixes Rajasthani and Mughal elements around its courtyards, with formal charbagh gardens at ground level, chhatris and jharokha balconies above, and Aleppo mirror panels and gilding in the state rooms. The Jalau Khana and Darbar Hall, built later, turn colonial: ionic columns, Gothic arches and a rooftop bungalow in the Victorian manner, raised for the Irish-born queen of Maharaja Rajinder Singh.

In 1859 Maharaja Narinder Singh built the Darbar Hall, and it is the part of the fort most visitors come for, because it now works as a museum. Its cases hold rare cannons, swords, shields and maces, daggers associated with Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and the famous sword of Nadir Shah, the Persian invader. Great chandeliers of Bohemian cut glass hang above the hall. Around it stand the Sarad Khana, built for European guests, the Jalau Khana exhibition hall, and a Cannon Park of old artillery in the grounds.

Deep inside Qila Androon burns the Akhand Jyot, a sacred flame that Baba Ala Singh is said to have brought from the Jwalamukhi temple in the Himalayas. Priests still tend it, and local belief holds that as long as the flame burns, Patiala will flourish and stay protected. Few endangered monuments anywhere are still guarded by a living flame lit by their founder.

Why is Qila Mubarak called endangered?

The decline began early. In the 1840s the royal family moved its residence to a newer palace outside the old town, leaving only dependent relatives in the fort. After independence in 1947 the Punjab government used the complex for offices, then vacated it in the 1960s, and decay set in. Paintings were stolen from the Ranivas in the 1990s and again in 2004. That year the World Monuments Fund placed Qila Mubarak among the 100 most endangered sites in the world. The complex is protected under state law since 1964 and nationally since 1994, and restoration has inched forward with INTACH and other agencies. One hopeful sign: the old Ran Baas guest house, restored by conservation architects, reopened in 2025 as a heritage hotel.

What can visitors see today?

Most of the fortress remains closed, including its painted interiors, so a visit centres on the great entrance gate, the Darbar Hall museum, the Sarad Khana, the Jalau Khana and the Cannon Park. Even from outside, the gateway facade, with its carved and painted plasterwork, shows how fine the complex once was. Pair the fort with Sheesh Mahal and a walk through the old bazaars, and you have the full story of royal Patiala in a single day.