During the seventh century, the Gauda Kingdom was founded by King Shashanka, whose reign corresponds with the beginning of the Bengali calendar.

The city thrived until the collapse of the Bengal Sultanate in the 16th century, when the Mughal Empire took control of the region.

The course of the Ganges was once located near the city, but a change in the river's course caused Gauda to lose its strategic importance.

Colonial officials, such as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton and William Francklin, left detailed surveys of the former Bengali capital.

The Pala Empire was founded in the Gauda region during the rise of Gopala as king with the approval of an assembly of chieftains.

During his rule, the Lakhnauti-based kingdom expanded into Satgaon in the south, Bihar in the west, Devkot in the north.

His successor was Shamsuddin Firuz Shah, who played pivotal roles in completing Kaikaus' work in Satgaon before proceeding to take over Mymensingh and Sonargaon.

In 1303, Firuz's nephew Sikandar Khan Ghazi and commander-in-chief Syed Nasiruddin teamed up with Shah Jalal and his forces in the Conquest of Sylhet against the Gour Kingdom.

The city had a citadel, a royal palace and durbar, many mosques, residences for aristocrats and merchants, and bazaars.

According to a contemporary Vaishnava poet, Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah once saw a procession led by Sri Chaitanya on the opposite bank of the river.

An inscription of Sultan Rukunuddin Barbak Shah mentions a fountain and water channel located halfway from the Dakhil Darwaza gate.

According to the Portuguese and medieval Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha, the road from the Dakhil Darwaza to the durbar had nine well-guarded gates, of which two can still be identified today.

In 1521, a Portuguese visitor saw Sultan Nusrat Shah enjoying polo being played on the plains below the citadel.

[11] Bengal attracted many Eurasian merchants during the Sultanate period and Gaur was a centre of the trade like other erstwhile Bengali cities, including Pandua, Chittagong, Sonargaon and Satgaon.

Venetian traveller Cesare Federici observed that ships were unable to sail north of Saptagram for this very reason.

With suburbs it covered an area of 20 to 30 km (12 to 19 mi), and in the 16th century the Portuguese historian Faria y Sousa described it as containing 1,200,000 inhabitants.

Fergusson in his History of Eastern Architecture thus describes the general architectural style of Gauḍa: It is neither like that of Delhi nor Jaunpur, nor any other style, but one purely local and not without considerable merit in itself; its principal characteristic being heavy short pillars of stone supporting pointed arches and vaults in brick whereas at Jaunpore, for instance, light pillars carried horizontal architraves and flat ceilings.

Owing to the lightness of the small, thin bricks, which were chiefly used in the making of Gauḍa, its buildings have not well withstood the ravages of time and the weather; while much of its enamelled work has been removed for the ornamentation of the surrounding cities of more modern origin.

Moreover, the ruins long served as a quarry for the builders of neighbouring towns and villages, till in 1900 steps were taken for their preservation by the government.

The finest ruin in Gauḍa is that of the Great Golden Mosque, also called Bara Darwaza, or twelve doored (1526).

The citadel, of the Muslim period, was strongly fortified with a rampart and entered through a magnificent gateway called the Dakhil Darwaza (1459–1474).

At the south-east corner was a palace, surrounded by a wall of brick 66 ft (20 m) high, of which a part is standing.

There are a number of Muslim buildings on the banks of the Sagar Dighi, including, notably, the tomb of the saint Makhdum Shaikh Akhi Siraj (died 1357), and in the neighbourhood is a burning ghat, traditionally the only one allowed to the use of the Hindus by their Muslim conquerors, and still greatly venerated and frequented by them.

[11] The Indian archaeological survey is also carrying out excavations of a mound about a kilometre from the Chikha building within the Baisgaji Wall where remains of a palace are turning up.

A permanent artefact and photographic exhibition highlighting the major monuments of Gour and the restoration work is undertaken by the ASI is being held at the Metcalfe Hall, Kolkata.