Tomb of Jahangir

Today I am to going write about the tomb of one of the great Mughal emperors of India (sub-continent) known by his imperial name Jahangir. Jahangir who ruled the great India for about 22 years and built beautiful structures all across the sub-continent lies in his beautiful tomb near Lahore.
Tomb of Jahangir is a mausoleum built for Emperor Jahangir by his son Shah Jahan 10 years after the death of his father. This tomb is located near the town of Shahdara Bagh in Lahore, Pakistan. The entrance of mausoleum is through two massive gateways of stone. They are of red colour and they are beautifully decorated.

After entering the gateway you  look at the massive and attractive walled garden. The tomb is present the middle of the walled garden.

The tomb has 4 large minarets which are at least 30 meters high.
The tomb is embellished with frescoes and pietra dura inlay and coloured marble.
I managed to take some beautiful pictures of some the beautiful architectural work done in this tomb.

The corridor around the mausoleum is adorned with the most elegant mosaic, representing flowers and Quranic verses.

Before entering the tomb you have to pass through a huge gate which is guarded by guards.
After entering it you have to walk through the beautiful gallery to the grave which you can see in the below pictures is simply breathtaking.

 taking. The interior of the tomb is an elevated sarcophagus of white marble, the sides of which are wrought with flowers of mosaic in the same elegant style as the tombs in the Taj Mahal at Agra. One the sides of the sarcophagus the ninety nine attributes of ALLAH are inlaid in black.

Hope you liked the pictures and this little trip :)

Fort Road Food Street

Another article of Lahore. I think i am in love with this city :P
Food street is the whole street just for food. It includes restaurants and hotels where you can enjoy the traditional foods of Lahore.
Well there are two food streets in Lahore. One is near Anarkali bazar which is quite old and the other one is near Lahore Fort, the one that I am going to write about.
On the Gate of Food Street two big artificial lions welcome you.

1.2 km long this V-shaped food street was specially redesigned to fulfill the traditional look of Desi Food points. Some of the buildings there are about 100 years old. Many of them were renovated.

It is built along side the wall of Badshahi Mosque. At night this place is worth seeing. It is attached with Lahore Fort through Roshni Gate which is open for visitors all day and night.
Architectures and interior designs has put special efforts to enhance the environment with historical masterpieces and lighting.

Food street also has a central sitting place which is surrounded by the backs of all restaurants.

The Fort Road food street has become the most interesting place for food lovers. Daily hundreds of people enjoy dining here with amazing outdoor dining experience. You can enjoy all types of traditional dish.
Some of the restaurants like Fort View or Cocos have the amazing view of Lahore Fort from their roofs. You can also dine on their roofs. These roofs give you the finest scenery around.

I personally dined at Cocos and they lived up to my expectations.

I highly recommend that after dining , people don't forget to enjoy a walk inside the Lahore Fort. Entrance through Roshni gate to enjoy the mesmerizing atmosphere in front of Lahore Fort , Badshahi Mosque and Baradari.
Average cost of dining per person is around 850 PKR. In food week you get special discounts on all the restaurants.
Frankly don't worry about which point to select among numerous. Every point has something good to offer :)
Hope you liked this place :)

Sheesh Mahal

Sheesh Mahal is the most fascinating place I found in whole Lahore fort. So i decided to write an whole article for it.
Sheesh Mahal which literally means 'Crystal Palace' is among the 21 monuments that were built by successive Mughal emperors inside Lahore Fort, and forms the jewel in the Fort's crown.

As we all know Sheesh Mahal was constructed by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. It is called Sheesh Mahal (Crystal Palace) due to its pietra dura decorations and intricate mirror-work inlaid into the white marble walls and ceilings creating gleaming effect. Sometimes it is also called "Hall of mirrors" because its main hall is full of mirrors.

The facade which consists of five marble arches opens into the courtyard. The engrailed spandrels and bases  are inlaid with precious stones.

The courtyard of Sheesh Mahal is very big and it has number of water pathways. It also contains a small  central pond which has a platform

Another important structure present in its courtyard is Naulakha Pavilion which is a prominent white marble personal chamber with a curvilinear roof.

It was also built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a small summer house. But this small summer house cost around 900,000 rupees when it was built which was an exorbitant amount at that time. It is called Naulakha because in Urdu language this word means 9 lakh (0.9 million) rupees.
It cost that much because it was decorated with precious metals and stones.

I hope you liked this trip :)

Badshahi Masjid

Well I am writing this article specially for my foreigner bodies. As we all have visited Badshahi Masjid so it is not necessary for me to tell you about its location or any unnecessary details.
I will write all those details which a lot of Pakistanis don't know.
So here we go.
Badshahi Masjid or Royal Mosque is one of the Lahore's best known landmarks and a major tourist attraction located in the heart of Lahore. The Badshahi Masjid is the largest mosque in the world of its own kind. It has no parallel in beauty and elegance. There is no doubt that the Aurangzeb was well-known for his piety, was fulfilling an urge in order to pay the most impressive tribute to ALLAH in the form of a grand Badshahi masjid; which was made after taking inspiration from the Jamia Mosques of Delhi and Agra. Mosque is even more massive than those mosques.
About the entrance of mosque that we see today wasn't a part of original mosque which was built in 1671.

The Government of Pakistan established a small museum inside the Main Gateway Entrance of the Mosque. It contains relics of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) , his cousin Hazrat Ali and his daughter Hazrat Fatima. Some other relics are also present related to Hazrat Imam Husain etc

Badshahi Masjid is capable of 5,000 worshipers in its main prayer hall and a further 95,000 in its courtyard and porticoes. An interesting fact is that it remained the largest mosque in the world for about 313 years which is quite a lot of time.

Just to give you the idea of its size these are some fun facts:
* The four minarets of Badshahi Masjid are 4.2m taller than those of the Taj Mahal.
* The main platform of Taj Mahal can fit inside the courtyard of Badshahi Mosque.
* It has the largest courtyard in the world.
* Badshahi Masjid is the second largest mosque of South Asia next to Faisal Mosque which is also in Pakistan.
* It is also the fifth Largest mosque of the world.

As I said earlier this mosque was made after taking inspiration from the Jamia masjid of Delhi and Agra thats why it has close resemblance with them.
Badshahi Masjid's main prayer hall is the most beautiful place of the whole mosque.
Its design was inspired by Islamic, Persian, Central Asian and Indian influences.

The interior of the Main prayer Hall is richly embellished with stucco tracery, fresco work and inlaid marble.

The detailed work is one of the most beautiful and preserved works I have ever seen anywhere.

The exterior is decorated with stone carving as well as marble inlay in red sandstone, specially of lotiform motifs in bold releif.

Detail of white marble inlay in red sandstone.

Hope you people liked this article. I liked this trip a lot.
and also leave a comment :)

Moti Masjid

After a long time I am writing this article. Sorry for that :P
I was busy in some stuff.
So here is my new trip to another mosque called Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque). Well there are many pearl mosques in sub-continent but this particular one is present in Lahore in fact in Lahore Fort. Many people don't know that. Shah Jahan built this mosque in around 17th century. He also built another Moti Masjid in the same era but that one is in Agra.

The Moti Masjid, or Pearl Mosque, is a relatively small structure located at the western side of the fort. It is built entirely of white marble mined from the town of Makrana in contemporary Rajasthan. The mosque is one of the few buildings inside the fort that deviate from the overall north-south orientation of the complex, satisfying the liturgical requirement that the mosque's mihrab face directly towards Kaba.

Many people visit Lahore Fort but they never go to this place which is a sad thing :( . It is not a big mosque but it has great historical importance.
Many people believe that Jins(supernatural creatures) live in this abandoned mosque. May be thats was the reason I wanted to visit this mosque so much. And they also believe if you say special prayers in this mosque those Jins help you in those prayers.

Wazir Khan Mosque

Last Sunday I decided to go in Old Lahore to see those small narrow streets. I like the way people live in those areas. Long time ago I saw Wazir Khan Mosque in one of the Pakistani movies "Khuda key liye" and I always wanted to visit that place. So at last I got a chance to visit that fascinating place. I took my new camera and headed towards my destination. As this was my first time going to old Lahore and I didn't know much about the place I took some help with GPS
I reached Delhi gate first which is really a big gate and it is being renovated by the funds of World Bank. Vehicles weren't allowed to go in so I continued on foot. After passing through the beautiful old bazar I reached Wazir Khan mosque which looks astonishingly beautiful.
It is in good condition I must say that.

This mosque has been described as 'a mole on the check of Lahore'. It was built in seven years, starting around 1634-1635 AD, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan.

Door to Mosque.

The detail work of Wazir Khan Mosque is incomparable to anything that I have very seen. The use of colours and the art work panels are the most striking.

The unique patterns engraved in the soul of Wazir Khan Mosque enlighten us with the traditions, talents of our Mughal Architects which made these ages ago.

Main gate from the inside looks fab.

Tomb of Syed Muhammad Ishaq in the mosque is worth seeing.

Rows of shops outside the mosque (one of the earliest mosques to introduce such a concept).
And frankly speaking now this concept is adopted by every mosque to earn revenue.

I love this pic. A lot of pigeons were sitting on this minaret.

Mysterious door. Wonder what is behind this door.

I love this pic. I am proud of myself :p

Arabic calligraphy on glazed tile. This pic explains why Wazir Khan Mosque is famous for its extensive faience tile work.

Hope you liked this post.
To see more pictures you can visit my flickr account :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ansabmahmood/sets/72157632905256968/