Pakistan » Introduction of Lahore

Lahore the second largest city in Pakistan is known as the city of gardens and is the provincial capital of Punjab. It is considered to be the Mughal “Show-Window” of Pakistan. It is a great commercial and trade centre and has combined the life style of east and west and presents a lively mixture of both.

A large number of newspapers, journals and magazines are published here. Lahore, 250km southeast of Islamabad, lies on the main national line between Peshawar and Karachi.

A collection of some of the city's attractions include: The Mall, areas of parks and buildings with a decidedly British architecture; Lahore Museum, the best and biggest in the country; Lahore Fort, filled with stately palaces, halls and gardens; and the Old City, where a procession of rickshaws, pony carts, hawkers and veiled women fill the narrow lanes. The city has too many tombs, mosques and mausoleums.

Sites of interest

The Badshahi Masjid, one of the world's largest mosques and one of humanity's greatest architectural treasures, is located just outside the Northeast corner of the Walled City. Opposite is the historic Lahore Fort which houses the famous Sheesh Mahal, or Palace of Mirrors. Between the two buildings is a garden known as Hazuri Bagh in which Maharaja Ranjit Singh built a baradari, a decorated marble pavilion. Every Sunday afternoon story-tellers, poets and singers gather in the garden to continue their oral tradition, often reciting Waris Shah's Heer, Bulleh Shah, Hazrat Baba Fareed Shaker Gunj or other Punjabi literature. 

The Mausoleum of Muhammad Iqbal is also located in this garden, near the Eastern wall of the Badshahi Masjid. On the Northern side of the garden is the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh. Very close to that is the shrine of Syed Ali Hajveiri (ra), who is popularly known as Data Ganj Bukhsh and is famous as the Patron Saint of Lahore. The shrine is referred to by many as, "Data Sahib".

The Southern side of Hazuri Bagh is bounded by the wall of the Walled City, with the Roshnai Gate serving as an entrance. Roshnai Gate leads into the Shahi Mohalla quarter of the Walled City, also known as Hira Mandi. Shahi Mohalla offers a large variety of traditional food.

The Minar-e-Pakistan is a white marble construction and is fashioned as a commemorative tower that was built to remind its visitors of the famous "Pakistan Resolution" passed by the All India Muslim League in 1940. This resolution was the first public expression of intent on the part of the Muslims of United India to build their own homeland - Pakistan. The Minar (or Tower) is located in Iqbal Park, across the road from the Badshahi Masjid complex.

Opposite the old University Hall, a Mughal style building on the Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, houses the Lahore Museum. The Museum contains some fine specimens of Mughal and Sikh door-ways and wood-work and has a big collection of paintings dating back to Indo-Pakistan, Mughal, Sikh and British times. It has also a collection of musical instruments, ancient jewellery, textile, pottery and armoury. There are also relics from the Graeco-Pactrian times as well as some Tibetan and Nepalese.