Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
The Shahi Hammam was constructed in the 1630s CE, in conjunction with the nearby Wazir Khan mosque.
Both a “royal” and a “public” bathhouse, the gloriously decorated Shahi Hammam was very much more than an “ablution block”; it was a meeting place, a social hub, and it provided a large portion of the mosque’s income.
However, the Mughal Empire soon declined and fell.
Comments closed
No photograph can do them justice.
(and “serious” attempts to do so would require equipment that very few people possess)
However, the frescoes which adorn this mosque’s domes are guaranteed to amaze and delight almost anyone who looks up at them.
Comments closed
The featured image is a wide-angle (24 mm) shot of one of several such niches in Wazir Khan mosque’s prayer hall; each sits under one of its domes.
They are exquisitely and elaborately decorated, as is even more evident in the closer views, below.
The musical bonus takes us back to a time when US governments would send on tour to a predominantly Muslim nation some of the greatest American musicians…and then – upon their return to the USA – broadcast to a nationwide television audience those musicians’ admiring response to Islamic art and architecture.
(not coincidentally, the style of the decorative art that you are now looking at is, essentially, “Persian”)
Comments closed
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.
Comments closed
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.
Comments closed
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.
Comments closed
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.
Comments closed
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.
Comments closed
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.
Comments closed
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.
Comments closed
