Golconda Fort is a majestic monument, which is located on the western outskirts of Hyderabad city. It describes of a great cultural heritage of 400 years and is regarded as a place worth visiting. Built by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah in 1525, Golconda Fort stands as the epitome of Nawabi culture and grandeur.

The awesome Golconda Fort is famous for its military architecture. The defenses of this fort were so strong that no known attack of the time could penetrate its strong ramparts.

No wonder, its downfall could only be engineered by the guile of a traitor. Though in an advanced state of decay, the fort still conveys the majesty of its heydays.

Golconda Fort is a marvelous piece of military architecture. It was one of the most defensive and impregnable strongholds of its time with massive ramparts, bastions, and gateways. The fort also reflects the architectural skill of its builders, who built it a top a rugged boulder-strewn terrain. The marvelous acoustic features of the fort speak highly of technical achievements of the builders of that time. The architectural skill of the Qutab Shahi rulers of Golconda Fort is further reflected from the waterworks seen in the premises of the fort and below it. People living within the precincts of the fort, the royal baths, both residential and administrative buildings, received their due share of water, through a maze of well-laid clay pipes fed by Persian wheels (located below the fort).

As Golconda is strategically located in the peninsular part of India , it acquired prominence on the political map of India when the Kakatiya rulers built Mangalawaram or Mankal, a mud fort in Golconda in 1143. The glory of the Golconda fort grew under the rulers of the Bahamani kingdom when they took over this fort in 1364. In 1507, Quli Qutab Shah founded the kingdom of Golconda and turned the mud fort into a strong fortress.

Golconda Fort has a strange savage grandeur to which the mammoth boulders on the surrounding hills contribute a rugged and eerie charm. From the top of the acropolis, the walls of Golconda Fort appear meandering nearly four miles in circumference with 87 semi-circular bastions, eight gateways and four drawbridges, further secured by a deep moat running below the awesome ramparts. Later on, an irregular rhombus with a rough pentagon (known as the Naya Quila) was added to its northeastern side. Aurangzeb completely destroyed the fort in 1687 and left it in a heap of pathetic ruins. Huge cannons can still be seen mounted at a few vantage points.