Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
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.
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This and the next chapter illustrate just how meticulous has been the restoration of the courtyard walls’ brickwork, and of the ornamental/decorative features on their inner side.
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Once one is through the main gate, separated from the streets outside – and in the courtyard, gazing across to the mosque-proper – a first-time visitor can appreciate Wazir Khan mosque’s elegance and beauty.
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Efforts to restore and preserve Wazir Khan mosque have been ongoing since 2009; the “expected completion date” continues to move further into the future.
Its 17th century CE construction was a much speedier affair; building commenced in 1634 and was completed in 1641.
It is the subcontinent’s most elaborately decorated Mughal era mosque.
The facade and external gate pictured above are certainly “impressive”, but they are definitely not this particular mosque’s most impressive feature, nor its most beautiful/elegant, nor its best-preserved/restored.
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Perchance you are wondering why the featured image’s little girl in the white dress looks familiar…we had encountered her one hour earlier, in a courtyard.
There, she had danced – not as a “performance” – but spontaneously, as pictured in this series’ chapter #4.
Lahore is one of the world’s hottest and most polluted cities.
However, on the morning of 12 May 2024 the air was surprisingly “fresh”, temperature atypically moderate, and there were puddles in streets.
These were all thanks to the violent storm that had suddenly thundered in, overnight.
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I have no idea whether or not any local law or regulation was being breached.
If any relevant “Occupational Health and Safety” rules were notionally applicable, Lahore’s employers and employees were obviously well aware that such rules were notional, only.
One would never see a working person carry such an enormous load – in full public view – on any Australian street.
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For those whose shopping list contains just two very particular items – each utterly unlike the other – the pictured street vendor is their one-stop shop.
The bearded gentleman was selling only three products.
One was packaged in boxes: it kills rodents.
Another was “loose”; the dried plant-parts are “medicinal” – allegedly beneficial to humans’ health and life expectancy.
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This post’s “bird men” are not selling birds to “benevolent” customers; in this case the feathered captives have zero chance of being freed.
These “bird men” are in the tourism/entertainment business.
In every sense, Lahore Fort is the “big one” among the walled city’s architectural/artistic gems.
It sprawls across 20 hectares; one of its various “Mughal heritage treasures” is the world’s biggest picture wall/mural.
Inevitably, a few non-heritage, merely-opportunistic “attractions” have inserted themselves into this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Cruelty. Benevolence. Illegal. Tolerated. Prosecuted. Unpunished. Accepted. Condemned. Caged. Freed. Virtue. Wrongdoing.
Q: which of the above words apply to the way in which this post’s pictured persons earn their living?
A: all of them…and it is a very safe bet that none of the pictured persons are wealthy.
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Lahore’s walled city contains some truly extraordinary “built heritage”; two of its mosques ought be on any globetrotter’s “bucket list” and its fort is one of “our” planet’s grandest.
This “old city” is, however, neither a “museum” nor a “theme park”.
Most of it is very “real”, complex, busy and not-immaculate – an urban place in which many people live, work, shop.
It will surprise any visiting westerner who had preconceived Pakistan as a “forbidding” or “unfriendly” destination, and/or as one in which only males are highly-visible, in public.
On Lahore’s streets, adult women are abundantly present, most of them do not hide their faces, and it is not the least bit unusual to see an obviously-confident woman, venturing out in her own right, unchaperoned.
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