The City   

Some five hundred Jain families reside in the city which has eight Digambar Jain temples. The Parshvanath Digambar Jain Panchayati Temple, near Khirnighat has a wealth of rare Jain scriptures, many of them written on tadapatras. The city is just 50 kilometers away from Mathura, the nirvanabhoomi of Bhagwan Jambuswami, 65 kilometers from Agra, the city of Tajmahal and many Jain scholars and 115 kilometers from Ferozabad, the city which is famous among Jains for the huge statue of Bhagawan Bahubali.

It is an old city with an illustritious history. Aligarh is actually the name of a fort, situated some three kilometers from the downtown. Original name of the city is Kol or Koil. Now a district headquarter, Aligarh city is spread around an Area of 5019 sq. kms and its population is around 8.28 lakhs according to the 1991 census.

Main tourist attraction of the city, the Aligarh Fort is three kms north of the town and in its present form, dates back to 1524. Originally, it was under Moghul rule but after the death of Aurangzeb, it was concurred by the Afgans. Later on, its control was passed on to Jats, Marathas, Rohillas and finally in 1803, it came under the British. The ruins of an old fort built in 1524, the site of which is now occupied by an 18th century mosque, is also located here. Buddhist and Hindu temples of great antiquity are also found here. 

Aligarh Muslim University  

However, the city is mostly known for the exceptional educational institution founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, known as the Aligarh Muslim University. History of AMU goes back to 1875. The institution was first known as MAO college and came to be known as AMU in 1920. It has produced a large number of statesmen, politicians, scientists, businessmen, artists, sportsmen and other personalities who have contributed to the development of the nation in one way of the other. 

The establishment of M. A. O. College was described by Lord Lytton as an epoch in the social progress of India. Several decades later Sir Hamilton Gibb characterized the college as the first modernist institution in Islam. Aligarh Muslim University is counted among those educational institutions that are providing education of exceptional standards. It has now earned for itself a  place among the most prestigious universities of the world. 

The personalities  

Among the products of AMU are Mohammad Ali, Shaukat Ali, Hasrat Mohani, Raja Mahinder Pratap, Syed Husain, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and Mohammad Yunus. It claims to have had on its rolls a Zakir Husain who rose to be a president of India, Ayub Khan who became president of Pakistan,  Nawabzada Liaqat Ali Khan, a Prime Minister of Pakistan, Ahmed Said Khan of Chatari, a Prime Minister of Hyderabad, Sheikh Abdullah, G.M. Sadiq and Mir Qasim, all Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir; Abdul Ghafoor, Chief Minister of Bihar; Minister of State for Railways, Shafi Qureshi; Minister of State for Industry, B.P. Mauriya and Minister of State for Law, V. A. Saiyed Mohamamd etc. 

Aligarh has produced Fani, Josh, Majaz, Jazbi and Ali Sardar Jafri among its poets and Sajjad Hyder Yaldram, Zafar Ali Khan, Sadat Hasan Minto, Ismat Chughtai, Qazi Abdul Sattar, Rasheed Ahmad Siddiqi, Ale Ahmed Suroor and Raja Rao among its men of letters. 

former Indian Ambassador to U.S.S.R., Nurul Hasan; Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Satish Chandra; Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission and Governor of Bihar State, A. R. Kidwai; Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia, Masood Husain Khan; Director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training, Rais Ahmed; Rector of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Monis Raza; Director-General, Department of Oceanography, Zahoor Qasim; Indian Ambassador to Syria, K. A. Nizami; and  Secretary in the Central Government, Mahmood Butt are all products of Aligarh. 

It has given to the country film personalities such as Begum Para, Neena, Renuka Devi, Talat Mahmood, Shakeel Badayuni, Rahi Masoom Raza, Javed (of Saleem Javed fame), Rahman, Tabbasum and Naseeruddin Shah. 

Similarly, it has produced great sportsmen like Ghouse Mohammad, Wazir Ali, Nazir Ali, Lala Amarnath, C. S. Naidu, Mushtaq Ali, Mohammed Jafar, Masood Minsha, Ali Sayeed, Inamur Rahman, Govinda, Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Qayyum, Sayed Ali, Anwar Ahmad Khan, Doraswamy etc. A local sportsman Afsar Husain is the reigning national yachting champion. 

How to get there    

Aligarh is linked to major cities of the country by rail and road. It takes about three to reach New Delhi, the capital of India, by road. Railway journey to the city also takes the same time. The nearest airport is Agra, which is very well connected to major airport of the country.

The Aligarh-New Delhi road link is some 135 kilometers long while the railway rout between the two cities has a length of 110 kilometers. There are almost a dozen trains available from Delhi for Aligarh. Agra and Mathura cities are 65 and 50 kilometers away from Aligarh, respectively.