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“Old city”, Lahore (#16 in series: details of Wazir Khan’s courtyard + wide view of prayer hall)

 

 

The courtyard is flanked on four sides by 32 khanas, or small study cloisters for religious scholars.

Above quotation is from the Wikipedia entry;  it tells the history of Wazir Khan mosque’s 17th century CE construction, its deterioration through the 19th & 20th centuries, and its (ongoing) 21st century restoration. It includes many photos.

 

 

Part of Wazir Khan mosque’s well-restored courtyard wall, Lahore, 12 May 2024. Photos ©️ Doug Spencer.

 

 

 

Variously calligraphic or representational, the courtyard-facing walls’ ornamentation is consistently lovely and relatively “restrained”; it covers a relatively small portion of those walls’ brickwork.

In its style, scale – and sheer extravagance – the ornamentation of the mosque’s prayer hall is altogether “something else”!

 

 

 

Prayer hall, Wazir Khan Mosque, Lahore, 12 May 2024. Photos ©️ Doug Spencer.

 

 

 

The remaining Wazir Khan chapters will offer closer views of the prayer hall’s decorations, most especially the frescoes on its domes’ ceilings.

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