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BALA HISSAR,
LOCATION:
In Kabul
DESCRIPTION: The ancient walls
of Kabul
begin at Bala Hissar,
the ancient citadel or High Fort. Seven meters; 23 ft. high
and 3.7 m; 12 ft. thick, with strategically positioned sentry
towers, the walls are generally assigned to the turbulent
Hephthalite period during the 5th
century A. D. Succeeding dynasties added and repaired them
down through the 18th century.
Kabul’s
Bala Hissar,
rising 150 feet above the plain, witnessed most of the exciting
events of Afghanistan’s
history up until the spring of 1880. Babur,
founder of the Moghul Empire of
India, lived here early in the 16th century. He
loved it well, did much to embellish it, and wrote poetry
extolling its commanding view. Succeeding dings alternately
ruled from it or languished in its dungeons. Then, on that
fateful day in September 1879, a British Representative, Sir
Louis Cavagnari, and his escort,
were cut down in one of its palaces on the southern side.
This vivid protest against British interference in Afghan
affairs brought a British army to occupy the Bala
Hissar, hang rebellious chieftains
from gallows erected in its courtyards, and to close its story
the following spring when they demolished it as “a lasting
memorial of our ability to avenge our countrymen” (General
Robertson).”
From
Dupree,N.H. An Historical Guide to Afghanistan, Kabul, 1977, p. 83
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