Category: Americas and Eurasia and Africa

Following its completion in 1673, Lahore’s Badshahi Mosque remained the world’s biggest mosque/masjid for nearly three centuries.

Size-wise, it is now #3 in Pakistan.

Globally, it sits at the lower end of the “top 20”, or has recently lost that status.

Aesthetically, however, Badshahi Mosque is forever unlikely to have more than a very few peers.

You are looking at Pakistan’s most “emblematic” building.

At the time of its astonishingly swift construction, Lahore’s Badshahi Mosque (“Badshahi Masjid”, to locals) was the world’s largest mosque/masjid.

Construction began in 1671.

It opened two years later.

342 years on, the Mughal Empire’s final large-scale architectural marvel still inspires awe.

Its main building – pictured above – is the key visual presence on every Pakistan 500 rupee banknote.