page_title: Gobindgarh Fort
section_title: Built interventions of the British period
hierarchical_section_title: Gobindgarh Fort / Built interventions of the British period
caption_attribution_description: English: Darbar Hall- Gobindgarh Fort, Amritsar
context_page_description: Gobindgarh Fort is a historic military fort located in the center of the city of Amritsar in the Indian state of Punjab. The Fort was until recently occupied by the army but was opened to the public from 10 February 2017. Today the fort is being developed as a museum and theme park, as a repository of Punjab’s history.
  Popularly known as the Bhangian da Killa after its 18th century founder belonging to Bhangi Misl of Dhillon Jats rulers. Sandhawalia Jat ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh renamed it in the early 19th century after the 10th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh.
  Gobindgarh Fort is located on the south west fringe of Amritsar, in a square pattern, with a perimeter of 1,000 m and made up entirely of bricks and lime. The fort had 25 cannons mounted on its ramparts and it remained with the Bhangi rulers till 1805. From the middle of the 19th century until Indian independence in 1947, it was occupied by the British army who made numerous defensive improvements to the fort to take account of technological advances in weaponry.
context_section_description: Roofing of bastions
  After the British took charge of the fort in the mid 1850s, there was no threat of war against the controlling East India Company, except for some local uprisings which were small-scale affairs and not requiring the use of the fort as a military active complex. By 1859 the bastions came to be used primarily as barracks for housing soldiers. Since cannons were no longer fired in the bastions (with the impact of cannon fire thrust no longer a factor), they were instead used for accommodation. A conservation, management and reuse plan for Gobindgarh Fort was drawn up by the British, who then constructed roofs over the bastions. A changing political scenario triggered a change in building use, resulting in alterations in the form. The internal arched walls were then built upon in thinner sections repeating the arches below to raise the walls up to the desired terrace level. A typical madras roof—a traditional flat roof of wood beams, purlins, and tiles with mud terracing, originated from south India and adopted by British—was constructed. Skylights, with pitched roofing and centrally pivoted openings for ventilation with semicircular bulging jaali detail, were constructed to optimize the lighting conditions in these large barrack spaces.
   Bungalow
  A circular Sikh building positioned almost at the center of the fort complex was either brought down during the capture of the fort or later — no evidence for the same can be found. However, it is noteworthy that it seems that the British pulled down the building above the plinth level and built the superstructure reusing the same materials. The central position of the building indicates its significance in the Sikh era, thus this act of building on top of the Sikh plinth was a political power statement. In 1864 a rectangular superstructure housing four officers quarters were built (a legend runs that this was Bungalow, but this cannot be verified). A grand colonial staircase was built with ornamental masonry buttress. It is a semi-spiral staircase on the eastern façade, while a service staircase is also present to the west side, but its year of construction cannot be determined. The design of the quarters was such that, all four quarters had individual entry and a verandah at the rear. Each quarter had 2-3 small habitable rooms. A cook house and 8 servant’s quarters are also recorded to have been in existence, although their evidence on site in the present context cannot be verified. According to records, it was built with the reuse of Nanak shahi bricks in mud mortar, the flooring was constructed of cement concrete, whereas the roofing was designed as a mud roof with flat tiles.
  Darbar Hall
  The Durbar Hall lies to the east end almost on the center of the North-South axis. It is approached by the main road that leads from the inner gate. It lies to the south of this road and to the east of Bungalow. The plinth protection and the wooden louvers indicate that the entrance would have been from the west façade. As per records, it was built in 1850 as a six-bed hospital. It is a building of typical colonial design, rectangular double-storied with a colonnade verandah running all
  around on both the floors. The ground floor is divided into three bays of rooms further subdivided into two to three rooms. It has a high ceiling. A grand masonry staircase, with a wooden railing, leads to the upper floor. Although the ground floor could have been a hospital, the upper floor—with a huge hall and oval, glazed ornamental ventilators—does not conform to this type of use. The floor’s use and its period of construction are undetermined. With four fireplaces, it is a huge public hall that reflects a celebratory mood. The walls are of Nanak shahi bricks with mud mortar, although it is important to note that special bricks (especially cast bricks with beveled edges) were used in columns and plinth etc. the floors were of cement concrete. The verandahs had interesting wooden louvers and rails with bracings to guard against the tropical heat. Remnants of a pulley system indicate that 
caption: Darbar Hall- Gobindgarh Fort, Amritsar
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark III", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2017:03:05 11:51:50", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "360", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "9554", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "11444", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "13390", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:03:05 11:51:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:03:05 11:51:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "69/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "40", "EXIF SubSecTime": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5760", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3840", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9326", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1920000/487", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "320000/81", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "098024002238", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 105, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000b31d2e"}