Akhnoor Fort

Akhnoor Fort stands on the right bank of the Chenab, about 28 km from Jammu. Raja Tej Singh began it in 1762 and Raja Dhian Singh completed it in 1802. Twenty years later, on 17 June 1822, Gulab Singh was crowned by Maharaja Ranjit Singh beside the river, at the Jia Pota ghat. It was declared a national monument in 1982 and is cared for by the Archaeological Survey of India, which is carrying out conservation of the once largely ruined structure.

High walls with regular bastions and battlements enclose the fort, and two-storey watchtowers mark the corners. An inner wall divides it in two, with a gate leading to a two-storey palace whose courtyard arches are decorated, some still bearing murals. The fort sits on a much older mound called Manda, where excavation has found Harappan pottery, copper pins and bone arrowheads, followed by layers from later periods.