Derawar Fort is a large fortress consisting of 40 bastions in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. The walls of the fortress have a circumference of 1500 m, and they are 30 m high. The fort was built in the 9th century Rai Jajja Bhatti in the Cholistan desert and remained in the hands of the Bhatti clan until 1733 when it was taken over by the Nawab of Bahawalpur, Sadeq Mohammad Khan I. Derawar fort remained as a desert abode for the Nawabs of Bahawalpur until the 1970s which enabled the fort to come to this day intact.
Derawar Fort is visible for many miles across the desert with its 30 m high circular bastions.
There are ten bastions on each side of the fort, each decorated with intricate patterns in cut brickwork. There are also remains of structures decorated with tiles and frescoes inside the fort. The purpose of Derawar and the other forts in the Cholistan desert which could not survive was to form an infrastructure to meet the harsh conditions of a desert. So, people could carry their goods across the desert which was over the Silk Road route of Afghanistan-Pakistan-India.
