Kuchesar Fort

Kuchesar Fort, also called Rao Raj Vilas, stands at Kuchesar in Bulandshahr district, some 84 km east of Delhi and 24 km from the Ganges. The Dalal Jat rulers of the Kuchesar estate raised it in 1734 to serve as an opium trading post. Afrasiab Khan, who governed nearby Koyal, seized it in 1763 through a plot in which a royal eunuch drugged drinks with opium; the Jat family won it back in 1782. Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II granted it to the family on a perpetual lease in 1790, and the British confirmed the grant in 1803. The fort was also a centre for the Rai Brahmins, who served as court poets of Kuchesar.

Ajit Singh restored the fort in 2007. The family still lives in part of it, while Rao Raj Vilas, an older wing, runs as a heritage hotel showing both Mughal and British influences. Films including The Hungry have been shot here.