Written by léonie sidwick | 05 July 2010

Fort Chittor sits 180m above the town of Chittogarh and covers a huge 700 acres, and is easy to drive round. The steep mile long road up the hill goes through the seven gateways gateways to a flat plateau. The Sultan of Delhi invaded in 1303, obsessed by Rani Padmini, the queen of Chittor but rather than face the invaders and inevitable she led over 6000 women and children to commit self immolation and upon arriving at the fort the Sultan ordered all the temples and palaces to be torn down. Only the Padmni palace was left untouched, as it was there he had first glimpsed the queen. This palace was rebuilt in the 19th Century. The fort was invaded twice more before it was abandoned in 1567 following the third and final siege. In recent years many more structures have been rebuilt as part of a conservation project and most now appear to have stood the test of time exceedingly well!