Sheesh Mahal, Farrukhnagar

The Sheesh Mahal is the surviving royal palace of Farrukhnagar — a once-prosperous 18th-century salt-trading town, now a quiet, little-visited heritage cluster in Gurugram district about 24 km west of the city.

• Farrukhnagar was founded in 1732 by Faujdar Khan, a Baloch governor under the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar (after whom the town is named), and Faujdar Khan built the Sheesh Mahal the following year, in 1733, as the residence of the Nawab of Farrukhnagar.
• The double-storey palace stands on a high plinth along the old bazaar, its wooden ceilings and rear walls once inlaid with mirrors — the sheesh (glass) that gives it its name.
• It opens onto a courtyard with a central water channel that was historically fed from the adjacent octagonal stepwell, the Baoli Ghaus Ali Shah, to which it was linked by a now-sealed underground tunnel.
• The town thrived for over a century on salt, but British salt taxation made the industry uneconomical by the early 1900s, and Farrukhnagar declined and was largely abandoned.
• Today the palace is a State Protected Monument under the Haryana Directorate of Archaeology, at the heart of a rare Nawabi-era ensemble that also includes the well-restored Baoli, the Dilli Darwaza (Delhi Gate) and the old bazaar — an atmospheric, low-tourist half-day for heritage lovers exploring beyond Gurugram.
• This is a remote town with no reliable eateries, so plan meals in Gurugram; the pure-veg Sagar Ratna and Bikanervala there are the dependable options.