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Photo: NoahOmarY, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
One of the most historic places of Peshawar. The word Bala Hisar is from Persian meaning “elevated or high fort”. Renowned historian, Dr A.H. Dani in his book "Peshawar-Historic City of Frontier" writes that when Hiuen Tsang, a Chinese traveller, visited Peshawar in 630 AD, he spoke of a "royal residence".
Bala Hissar, also spelt Bala Hisar, is a historic fortress located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The existence of a fort at the location was first mentioned by 7th-century explorer Xuanzang; the fort was used as a royal residence for the Durrani Empire since 1772, when Timur Shah Durrani made Peshawar his capital. The Sikh Empire destroyed and reconstructed the fort after conquering Peshawar in March 1823. In 1849, the British East India Company reconstructed the fort's outer walls.
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