Lahore is located 288 km from Islamabad. This capital of the Punjab is a city of gardens, parks and educational institutions with a rich heritage. It is an ancient town rich in historical monuments, including Mughal architecture. Lahore is considered to be the cultural capital of Pakistan.
Places of interest include the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort, Old City Shrine of Data Ghanj Bukhsh, Anarkani Bazaar, Wazir Khan's Mosque, National Museum, Sikh monument, Minar Pakistan, the mausoleum of Jahangir, Nur Jahan and Asif Khan, Shalimar Garden, Jallo National Park as well as (some two hours drive from Lahore) there is a world's largest man made forest Chhanga Manga. Lahore is famous for folk dances (dhamal) with drum beating in a traditional way at shrines with a totally different essence of mystic surroundings. Visiting countryside and villages is an excellent experience near Lahore. Lahori people are very hospitable and this hospitality leaves unforgettable impression.
Badshahi Mosque
The city next crops up in literature in connection with the campaigns of the Turkish dynast Mahmud of Ghazni against the Rajas of Lahore between I00I and I008. Around this time it established itself as the capital of the Punjab and thereafter began to play an important and growing role as a centre of Muslim power and influence in the subcontinent. Its heyday was the Mughal era from the early sixteenth century onwards and, as Mughal power began to decline in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Lahore suffered a concomitant period of ignominy and political eclipse. It was here, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, that the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh declared himself Maharajah of the Punjab and allowed his troops to desecrate many of the city's beautiful Islamic shrines- including the Badshahi Mosque which was, for a while, converted into a powder magazine. By the time British occupied Lahore in I849, one writer moved to describe the city as 'a mere expanse of crumbling ruins'.
Lahore Fort
Nearby, the massively fortified walls of Lahore Fort speak eloquently of the centuries of passing history that they have witnessed. The fort antedates the coming of Mahmud of Ghazn i in the eleventh century, was ruined by the Mangols in I241, rebuilt in I267, destroyed a gain by Timurlane in I398 and rebuilt once more in I421. The great Mughal emperor Akbar re placed its mud walls with solid brick masonry in I566 and extended it northwards. Later Jehangir, Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb all added the stamps of their widely differing personalities to its fortification, gateways and palaces.
The fort encloses an area of approximately thirty acres and it is possible to spend many hours wandering there, lost in contemplation of times gone by, trying to reconstruct in your imagination a way of life that the world will never see again. The buildings within its walls are a testament to the gracious style of Mughal rule at its height, in which every man knew his place and courtly behaviour had been refined into an elaborately stratified social code. Much of the architecture reflects this code. From a raised balcony in the Diwan-e-Aam, or Hall of Public Audience, built by Shah Jehan in I63I, the emperors looked down on the common people over whom they ruled when they came to present petitions and to request the settlement of disputes. Wealthier citizens and the nobility were allowed to meet their emperors on a level floor in the Diwan-e-Khas, the Hall of Special Audience-which was also built by Shah Jehan, in I633.
Shalimar Garden, Lahore
Another magnificent remnant of the Mughal era, also partially vandalized in the late eighteenth century by the invading Sikhs, is the Shalimar Garden which stands on the Grand Trunk Road about eight kilometres to the east of the old part of Lahore. “Shalimar” means 'House of Joy' and, in truth, the passing centuries have done nothing to detract from the indefinable atmosphere of light-heartedness and laughter that characterizes this green and peaceful walled retreat. A canal runs the entire 2,006 foot (6II meters) length of the garden and from it 450 sparkling fountains throw up a skein of fresh water that cools and refreshes the atmosphere, making this a favourite place for afternoon walks for the citizens of modern Lahore. Lahore is rightly regarded as the cultural, architectural and artistic centre of Pakistan; indeed, the city is so steeped in historical distinction that it would be possible to spend a lifetime studying it without learning everything that there is to learn.
Hameed's areas of specialisation include documentary filmmaking, being a conservation leader from the WWF College for Conservation leadership, graphic design, teaching multimedia Arts at national college of Arts and he is a regular travel column contributor to an English speaking Pakistani newspaper. For more information on travel in Pakistan, Hameed is happy to answer any e-mails: hameed@gandhara.org
If you are looking for a friendly, clean cheap backpackers in Lahore, Hameed recommends the Regale Internet Inn in Lahore. E-mail: Regale_internet@yahoo.com