Outsiders simply know it as Shigar Fort, but for the people of Baltistan it is Fong Khar – Palace on the Rock. An apt enough name for the main wing of the building straddles a huge rock. Admittedly although the rock could not be moved, there being ample space, the palace could have been designed differently to avoid building around its protuberance. One wonders, therefore, why the builders incorporated the rocky mass into the design for it serves no apparent purpose other than giving the place its name.
Legend has it, and it is little better than legend for the history of Baltistan is at best amorphous, that Hasan Khan, 20th in the line of Amacha rulers of Shigar, built the Palace on the Rock.
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Ismailimail 