Restoration of Jaisalmer Fort: Assessment of Outer Fort Walls

Located in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India, Jaisalmer Fort is a walled complex of palaces, temples, and houses built in the 12th century under the rule of Rawal Jaisal, a Bhatti Rajput King. During the monsoon of 1999, two bastions and a large section of the pitching wall surrounding the fort collapsed. World Monuments Fund, which had included Jaisalmer Fort in the World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites in 1996, 1998, and 2000, undertook an emergency fact-finding mission in December 1999. This illustrated report describes the findings and recommendations of that mission, which identified inadequate drainage and rising levels of groundwater as the most significant challenges to the preservation of Jaisalmer Fort. Emergency action to stave off further structural damage was recommended. The report summarizes prior conservation plans and contains a section on hydrological analysis, an outline of the site’s key stakeholders, and a section on structural analysis of the fort complex.