One does not have to go far to see the Old Fort (Purana Qila) standing stoically amidst wild greenery. Built on the site of the most ancient of the numerous cities of Delhi. Indraprastha, Purana Quila is roughly rectangular having a circuit of nearly two kilometers.
Purana Qila is the inner citadel of the city of Dina-panah. Old Fort was founded by the second Mughal Emperor, Humayun in 1533 and completed five years later. Purana Qila and its environs flourished as the sixth city of Delhi.
Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun in 1540. He renamed the fort as Shergarh, and also added several more structures in the complex, during his reign that lasted for the next five years until he died in 1545.
Subsequently, Islam Shah took over the reins of North India from this fort but later shifted his capital to Gwalior. People believed it to be a safer capital in that period. After Islam Shah died in 1553, Adil Shah took charge of North India, and this fort remained neglected. Adil Shah shifted his capital further east to Chunar in present-day Uttar Pradesh. Humayun, who was based in Kabul got an opportunity to re-capture the citadel and the seat of Delhi in 1555. Fifteen years after he had to leave it, though his reign didn’t last long. He died only a year later in January 1556, due to a tragic accident, within the fort complex at Sher Mandal.