Khaplu Fort: Old History and Key Features of Yabgo Khar

What Is Khaplu Fort?

Khaplu Fort is the restored valley palace of the Yabgo Rajas in Khaplu, Gilgit-Baltistan, known locally as Yabgo Khar.

Khaplu stands at about 2,600 metres, along the Shyok River, a tributary of the Indus.

The old trade route to Ladakh follows the same river, and the town is the administrative seat of Ghanche District.

The names can confuse first-time readers. “Khaplu Fort” and “Khaplu Palace” both describe the same building.

Yabgo is the ruling family’s name, and khar is the Balti word for a castle or palace.

One local account translates Yabgo Khar as “the fort on the roof”.

A second, much older fort stood on the rock above the town.

That one is Thortsi Khar (also written Thoqsi Khar), and its ruins are still visible.

Keeping the two apart makes the rest of the history far easier to follow.

The Yabgo Dynasty and Old Khaplu

Khaplu was one of six small kingdoms of old Baltistan, ruled by the Yabgo dynasty from a mountain fortress and a residence in the valley.

Before modern borders, Baltistan was split into six small kingdoms: Skardu, Shigar, Khaplu, Kiris, Rondu and Kharmang.

Each ruler kept two kinds of buildings. A valley residence handled daily court life and administration.

A mountain fortress served as a weapons store, a treasury, and a last refuge.

Khaplu’s ruling family carried the Yabgo title.

By Cunningham’s count, the ruler Rahim Khan was the 62nd Yabgo king, which gives a sense of how long the line was said to run.

The region itself was once a Buddhist stronghold.

Today Khaplu’s people follow several Islamic traditions, and the town is home to the Khanqah-i-Chaqchan mosque, which Dawn describes as around 700 years old.

Thortsi Khar: The Old Mountain Fort Above Khaplu

Thortsi Khar was Khaplu’s mountain fortress; it fell to a siege in the mid-1600s and was largely destroyed after the Dogra conquest of 1840.

Thortsi Khar stood on an isolated rock above the valley.

The Persian chronicle Shigar Nama describes it as a fortress that touched the clouds, and says it could not be taken by direct attack.

It was taken another way. Baltistan’s forts usually fell by starvation, not assault.

After Murad Khan took over Skardu’s administration around 1650, he joined forces with Imam Quli Khan of Shigar and moved against Khaplu.

Rahim Khan shut himself in Thortsi Khar. The attackers raided the countryside and cut off his food and water.

After three months he surrendered, once Murad Khan promised him safe treatment.

The fort changed hands again.

In 1674, Ladakhi troops captured Chorbat and Thortsi Khar, and Khaplu’s territory was divided among three rulers.

One outsider saw it while it was still intact.

The British traveller Godfrey Vigne, who visited Baltistan in 1835 or 1838, climbed up to the fortress.

He wrote that the view from its windows was grand and that the drop beneath them made him dizzy to look down.

After the Dogra conquest in 1840, most of Baltistan’s mountain fortresses were destroyed.

Today only ruins and the old fortress mosque remain on the rock.

The valley residences survived, because they had little military value and the royal families kept living in them.

Who Built Khaplu Fort, and When?

Tradition credits Raja Daulat Ali Khan with building Khaplu Palace in 1840, though some historians doubt it was built from scratch then.

The standard story goes like this. After the Dogra rulers took control of the region, the seat of government moved down from the old fort.

Raja Daulat Ali Khan then built a new palace in the valley, with help from Kashmiri and Balti craftsmen.

Local legend adds a memorable detail about the site.

The Raja is said to have sent a large stone rolling down from the cliff and promised to build wherever it stopped.

It came to rest near the village of Doqsai, and the palace went up there.

Life inside the old fort looked different.

According to the travel writer Jane E. Duncan, who rode through the region in the early 1900s, Khaplu’s people once lived inside the fort and could not build homes outside it.

That custom ended after the Maharaja of Kashmir took control, which also ended the fighting between the local kings.

Khaplu Fort Timeline: Key Dates at a Glance

Khaplu’s fort history runs from a mid-1600s siege and an 1840 conquest to a 2011 restoration and a 2013 UNESCO award.

Khaplu Fort Architecture: 6 Features to Look For

Six features define Khaplu Fort: timber-and-mud construction, a carved gate from Skardu, tiered timber balconies, nail-free carved ceilings, named royal rooms, and an upper hall facing the Karakoram.

Because Khaplu sits where several cultures meet, the palace blends Tibetan, Ladakhi, Kashmiri, Balti and Central Asian ideas.

Masood Khan, who documented the Shigar restoration for the Aga Khan Trust, has noted that the strong Kashmiri influence is plain in the palaces of Khaplu, Skardu and Kharmang, while older Shigar looks more local and Tibetan.

1. Timber, Mud Brick and Stone Construction

The main building rises several storeys and is built from timber, mud brick, clay and soil mortar.

Pale plastered walls sit on stone terraces, and carved timber frames the upper floors.

It is the timber-and-stone tradition typical of Baltistan.

2. A Carved Gate With a Borrowed Past

A carved wooden gate stands at the entrance.

According to the Aga Khan Trust’s own book on the region, Yabgo Raja Hatim Khan took it from a fort in Skardu after conquering most of Baltistan.

The passage beyond it once housed a stable and opens onto the front lawn, where a band played at festivals in the Rajas’ time.

3. Tiered Timber Balconies and the Entrance Tower

The north front is dominated by a half-octagonal timber bay that climbs through several storeys.

Arched openings and carved screens catch the light, which is why the building photographs so well after dark.

4. Carved and Painted Ceilings Without Nails

Craftsmen decorated the wooden ceilings with chisel work and paint, and joined the timber without nails.

The geometric lattice in the photo below shows the style: tight, repeating patterns that look almost woven.

5. Named Royal Rooms

Local accounts list several named spaces, including the royal meeting room (Chogoraftal), the royal balcony (Chogojarokh), the princess’s dressing room (Lainakhang) and the queen’s room.

The names show how the building once separated public court life from family life.

6. An Upper Hall Facing the Karakoram

A hall on the top floor, used as a leisure room, looks out over the lawns toward the Karakoram range.

It shows what the site offered the family.

How the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Restored Khaplu Fort

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture restored Khaplu Fort between 2005 and 2011, using Venice Charter standards and local labour.

By the early 2000s the palace was in poor condition.

The Raja’s family had built new houses nearby and moved out, then handed the building to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

Restoration ran from 2005 to 2011 under the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme.

Work began with a survey.

Teams used electronic distance measuring equipment to record the building and work out the original state of its damaged parts.

The restoration followed the Venice Charter, the international standard for conserving historic buildings.

Funding came from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its embassy in Islamabad.

USAID helped pay for an exhibition centre on Balti culture.

People from about 400 local families worked on the project, and press reports at the time put materials at roughly Rs 30 million and labour at about Rs 25 million.

Khaplu was the second fort in Baltistan the Trust restored, after Shigar.

Recognition followed: the 2013 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards gave it an Award of Distinction.

Visiting Khaplu Fort Today: Hotel, Museum and Gardens

Khaplu Fort now works as a Serena heritage hotel and a museum of Baltistan’s history, about 100 km by road from Skardu.

Part of the complex is a heritage hotel run by Serena Hotels, with 21 rooms. Six of them are inside the palace itself.

One guest wing was built inside the Raja’s old horse stable.

The hotel employs people from 35 local households, and Dawn reported that roughly 70 percent of its income goes to development in the Khaplu area.

Another part is a museum on the history and culture of Baltistan.

The grounds include a traditional garden with a pavilion set in a square water basin.

Khaplu is roughly 100 km from Skardu, about 2.5 to 3 hours by road. Skardu Airport (IATA: KDU) is the usual air gateway.

Nearby, the restored Khanqah-i-Chaqchan mosque makes a good second stop.

Entry arrangements and room rates change, so confirm with the hotel before you travel.

Planning a longer trip out of Skardu? Our Baltoro Glacier trek itinerary shows how a trek can fit alongside a cultural stop like this.

Book References for Khaplu Fort History

The history above draws on published books and scholarly articles, and each title below links to a page where you can read more.

• Karakoram: Hidden Treasures in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, edited by Stefano Bianca, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2005. Background on the restored forts and palaces of Baltistan.
• Traditional Art and Architecture in Baltistan by Max Klimburg, a chapter in the Bianca volume above.
• Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo by Godfrey Vigne, 1842 (author profile). His account of Thortsi Khar before its destruction.
• A Summer Ride Through Western Tibet by Jane E. Duncan, 1906. Notes on life in and around Khaplu’s fort.
• Wohnburgen (Khar) und Bergfestungen (Khardong) in Baltistan by Dieter Schuh, Tibet Encyclopaedia (article, in German). Source for the Thortsi Khar siege and the dating debate.

For news coverage and a general overview, see Khaplu Palace on Wikipedia, Dawn’s feature on Khaplu, and Dawn’s report on the UNESCO award.

Plan Your Visit to Khaplu Fort

Go to Khaplu Fort knowing the two layers of its story: the ruined mountain fort above and the restored palace below.

Khaplu Fort rewards visitors who arrive with the history in mind.

Look up at the ruins of Thortsi Khar, then walk through the carved gate and the timber halls of the palace below.

Together they tell the story of a Baltistan kingdom from siege to restoration.