Apr 30, 2009

Golconda Fort

The pictures are in the order of a guide's tour...

This is the entrance to the garrison.

That's Praveen trying to lift the metallic block. According to our guide this block was used to test strength... army recruits had to lift this block off the ground to pass the test. Praveen could not budge it. It managed to shift it little bit. But three local boys all aged around 12 years, jointly lifted it one inch from the ground. Amazing!

Estimated weight of the block: 250kg.

These are the step leading the way to the prison

...and those are images of Gods carved by a royal prisoner on one of the prison walls. When the prison door is shut, the only source of light and air is from a foot square hole high up in the ceiling.

Now we are at the summit of the rocky hillock and below that rock are two small temples.

That's the summer palace and the highest point in Golconda Fort.

Below picture, to the right, are the palace ruins. The walls and floors still have water pipelines. It seems water was pumped to the palace from another hillock about 2km from here. Of course, those days there were no motors... gravitational force was used to it's best.

Looking back at the summer palace on the way down. We took the other stairs which is much steeper than the one we climbed up.


The climb looks daunting. Our guide told us that some guides would bring tourists to this stairs and the tourists looking up would refuse to go up. The guide saves times for more tourists!

That's a fountain head in the palace courtyard.

I've visited this place two times; first with dad and then with Praveen sometime 2003. Both times, to my bad luck I could not see the museum close by.

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