Purana Qila (Old Fort) is one of the oldest forts in Delhi.

Its current form was

built by Sher Shah Suri, the founder of the Sur Empire. Sher Shah raised the
citadel of Purana Qila with an extensive city-area sprawling around it. It is
believed that the Purana Qila was still incomplete at Sher Shah's death in 1545,
and was perhaps completed by his son Islam Shah, although it is not certain which
parts were built by whom.

Excavations carried out by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Purana Quila in

1954-55 (trial trenches)[1] and again 1969-1973 by its Director, B B Lal, have
unearthed Painted Grey Ware dating to 1000 BCE.

The fort was the inner citadel of the city of Din Panah during Humayun's rule who
renovated it in 1533 and completed five years later.[2] The founder of the Suri
Dynasty, Sher Shah Suri, defeated Humayun in 1540, naming the fort Shergarh;[3] he
added several more structures in the complex during his five-year reign. Purana
Qila and its environs flourished as the "sixth city of Delhi".

When Edwin Lutyens designed the new capital of British India, New Delhi, in the
1920s, he aligned the central vista, now Rajpath, with Purana Qila.[4] During the
Partition of India, in August 1947 the Purana Qila along with the neighbouring
Humayun's Tomb, became the site for refuge camps for Muslims migrating to newly
founded Pakistan. This included over 12,000 government employees who had opted for
service in Pakistan, and between 150,000�200,000 Muslim refugees,[5] who swarmed
inside Purana Qila by September 1947, when Indian government took over the
management of the two camps. The Purana Qila camp remained functional till early
1948, as the trains to Pakistan waited till October 1947 to start.[6]

In the 1970s, the ramparts of Purana Qila were first used as a backdrop for
theatre, when three productions of the National School of Drama were staged here:
Tughlaq, Andha Yug and Sultan Razia, directed by Ebrahim Alkazi. In later decades
it has been the venue of various important theatre productions, cultural events,
and concerts.[7] Today, it is the venue of a daily sound and light presentation
after sunset, on the history of the "Seven Cities of Delhi", from Indraprastha
through New Delhi.[8]