Patiala was founded as a state in 1763 by Baba Ala Singh Ji. Qila Mubarak is its fort complex.
Ran Baas, The Palace opened inside the complex on 15 January 2025 as Punjab's first heritage hotel, run on a public-private basis with 35 suites. The condition of the rest of the fort is a separate and less flattering story.
The Patiala peg is universally attributed to Maharaja Bhupinder Singh and a scheme involving a visiting polo team around 1920. No contemporaneous source for it was found. Every account traces to later retellings. Given that the fort now houses a luxury hotel, a story Patiala tells about itself is the right register for it.
Patiala was the capital of PEPSU, the Patiala and East Punjab States Union, formed in 1948 from eight princely states and merged into Punjab in 1956.
The Qila Androon, the inner fort, holds painted rooms in the Rajput and Pahari manner and is the part of the complex that matters architecturally. It has been under restoration for years.
Patiala was the largest of the Sikh states and its ruler was Rajpramukh of PEPSU from 1948. The Patiala salwar, the Patiala peg and the Patiala shahi turban are all named for the court's manner.
The state archive, the arms collection and the library at Patiala hold material on the whole Cis-Sutlej region. None of it has been catalogued in any published form.