Golconda Fort

Golconda Fort stands in western Hyderabad, around 9 km from Hussain Sagar, and is among the great fortress complexes of India. Its history is traced to 1143, when the site was called Mangal. It later passed through the hands of the Bahmani Sultans and became the main seat of the Qutb Shahi kings. Its buildings blend Hindu and Islamic forms.

The defences include eight gateways, drawbridges and cannons still mounted on the walls. The chief entrance is the Fateh Darwaza, or Victory Gate. Near its domed entry a handclap echoes up to a pavilion on the summit almost a kilometre away. The name is said to come from Golla Konda, "shepherd's hill" in Telugu: a shepherd boy found a sacred idol on the rock, and a Kakatiya king raised a mud fort around the spot. Halls, mosques and ruined palaces fill the slopes.