Skip to main content

Lahore Fort

By

The history of Lahore can be traced back to the 2nd Century A.D. with the city having enjoyed the status of a capital for about a thousand years - sometimes of an empire and at other times that of a province. Each dynasty of its rulers - the Ghaznavids, Ghaurids, Turks, Sayyads, Lodhis, Mughals, Suris, Sikhs and the British - has left its imprints on the city.


Excavations conducted in the Lahore Fort revealed existence of the city in the early historic period. It is therefore believed that, the Fort was built with the founding of the city itself, its chequered history bearing testimony to the vicissitudes it suffered. The Mughal rulers however, brought this exercise to a halt, by providing it real stability.


The Fort is the only monument in Pakistan, which represents a complete history of Mughal architecture, as it was renovated, added and improved upon by subsequent Mughal rulers, after Emperor Akbar.After the collapse of the Mughal authority, the Fort suffered again due to poor additions, alterations and an aggressive siege in 1841. After having demolished its southern fortification wall, in 1927, the British Government handed over the Fort to the Archaeological Survey of India, which took measures to remove systematically, all the additions and alterations carried out during the British rule, in an attempt to restore the original layout of the buildings and gardens.

Since Independence in 1947, the Department of Archaeology of the Government of Pakistan has been carrying out conservation work, on a limited scale though. Moreover, the pace of deterioration has rapidly outstripped the conservation efforts. The southern portion of the fortification wall and the Matbakh or the Royal Kitchen have demolished, while the ceiling of the Shish Mahal (Palace of Mirrors) is on the verge of collapse. Efforts are being made, in cooperation with UNESCO experts, to save the latter, after a detailed research into the cause of its decay.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mehrgarh (7000 BC - 2500 BC)

By
One of the most important   Neolithic   (7000 BCE to c. 2500 BCE) sites in   archaeology , lies on the "Kachi plain" of now Balochistan ,   Pakistan . It is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in South Asia." Mehrgarh is located near the   Bolan Pass , to the west of the   Indus River   valley and between the now Pakistani cities of   Quetta ,   Kalat   and   Sibi . The site was discovered in 1974 by an archaeological team directed by French archaeologist   Jean-François Jarrige , and was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from 1997 to 2000. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh—in the northeast corner of the 495-acre (2.00 km 2 ) site—was a small farming village dated between 7000   BCE   to 5500   BCE  and the whole area covers a number of successive settlements. Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts have been collected.
Post a Comment
Read more

Taxila - The City of Stones

By
Moving northwards from Harappa and Moenjodaro, come remains of another city that thrived between 518 BC to 600 AD. Around the present day Taxila and a little over 20 miles north of   Islamabad, lie the remains of the an ancient city whose actual name varies from scripture to scripture and from one language to another. "Tashasila" as it was called in Sanskrit gives some idea of the meaning of this name. Sila in Sanskrit means rock or stone . The legend says that the Buddha gave his head in charity to a man at this place . The Chinese called it "Chu-cha-shi-lo". The difficulty of Chinese phonetics with the sila and sira has led to this day to have names around Taxila such as Sirkap, Sirsukh and Margalla. Whatever its actual name. it was the most flourishing of all the cities between the Indus and Jhelum Rivers. Darius I formed it part of Achaemenid Empire of Persia. In 326 BC Alexander the Great and his armies encountered the charging elephants at battle against Hin
Post a Comment
Read more

Kusak Fort

By
This fort lies on the narrow top of a hillock in southern part of the Salt Range about 10 kilometers from Choa Sadien Shah. Maharaja Singh is said to have besieged this fort till the Janjua Sardar, Sultan Fateh Muhammad Khan surrendered to him.  The Janjua  Sultan of Watli, Sultan Fateh Muhammad Khan (descendant of Raja Jodh through Raja Sun Pal) opposed the Sikhs, holding them off for over 6 months in Kusuk Fort, Watli, for which Ranjit Singh gave the salt mines of Khewra and 40 villages to the Sultan as compensation.  His descendant, Sultan Raja Azmat Hayat served as a Member of the Provincial Assembly of Pakistan.  Upon his death on 15 February 2003 his son Sultan Raja Azam Hayat succeeded the estate of Kusak Fort.
1 comment
Read more