Sights in Punjab
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Mausoleum Of Sheikh Rukn-I-Alam
Lying just inside the main entrance to the fort, this masterpiece of Mughal architecture is the most significant and attractive of Multan's shrines. A pious and widely loved scholar, Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fatah (1251-1334), commonly known as Sheikh Rukn-i-Alam (Pillar of the World), became head of the Suhrawardiya Sufi branch introduced to the region by his father Baha-ud-Din Zakaria, and is regarded as the patron saint of Multan.
Built entirely of red brick and timber, the structure is not only beautiful but is skilfully executed, with a brilliant mastery of the squinch (a small arch across the corner of a tower masking the transition from square to dome). It is said that the…
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Qasim Bagh Fort
Multan's most prominent landmark, now largely in ruins except for its gate and part of the outer walls and bastions, is Qasim Bagh Fort, near Hussain Agahi and Chowk Bazaars. In the fort is the Qasim Bagh Stadium that occasionally hosts cricket matches.
Apart from the shrines, most of the fort was destroyed by the British in 1848-49 to avenge the death of Lieutenant Alexander vans Agnew, killed in Multan by order of the Sikh governor. Agnew's memorial obelisk stands on a plinth at one of the highest points of the fort mound. Qasim Bagh, the small garden after which the fort now takes its name, and the large Qasim Bagh Stadium lie to the south. Although you can still walk …
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Mausoleum of Baha-ud-Din Zakaria
Just near the Mausoleum of Sheikh Rukni-Alam, the Mausoleum of Baha-ud-Din Zakaria, father of Rukni-Alam, was built in 1263. A disciple of the Sufi mystic Hazrat Shahabuddin Umar Suhrawardy of Jerusalem, Baha-ud-Din (1182-1262) introduced the Suhrawardiya branch to the subcontinent and founded a university in Multan. His tomb was badly damaged in 1848 but was later restored.
The brick building has a square base and an octagonal second storey supporting a dome, and is decorated with blue tiles and Arabic inscriptions. Although the upper halves of this tomb and Rukn-i-Alam's mausoleum have similar designs from the outside, it's interesting to compare the top-heavy and funct…
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Bahawalpur Museum
Displaying items ranging from calligraphy to artefacts from Moenjodaro, Cholistan and Harappa, Bahawalpur Museum, less than 1km southeast of Farid Gate.
The museum is divided into a Pakistan Movement Gallery of photos; an Islamic Arts Gallery of arms, textiles, graphic arts and metalware; an Archaeological Gallery; a Coins & Medals Gallery with items minted by the former state of Bahawalpur; an Ethnological Gallery with handicrafts from Cholistan and Bahawalpur; a Fabrics Gallery with costumes from the region; and a Manuscripts & Calligraphy Gallery.
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Institute Of Blue Pottery Development
To see the production phases of blue pottery, a traditional craft that is a Multan speciality, visit the small but interesting Institute Of Blue Pottery Development. The lovely items made here are sold in Pakistan and beyond and can also be purchased at the institute's own showroom (prices range from Rs30 for a small vase to Rs7000 for a large one). For an informal tour meet the institute's project director, Mr Shuaib Khan.
An autorickshaw from the city centre is Rs100 (one way). The PTDC and TDCP can arrange tours to the institute (prices on application).
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Mausoleum Of Sultan Ali Akbar
This largely forgotten but impressive 16th century tomb lies in the Suraj Miani suburb to the north of the city centre. Akbar's mother has her own tomb nearby.
To get here take a passenger tonga from the north side of Kutchery Chowk to Suraj Miani in the northern outskirts and then walk 400m east and south, winding through the backstreets. You'll be able to see the huge octagonal building from the tonga. A qinji costs about Rs60 (Rs10 per person if there are six people) or it's Rs70 by autorickshaw.
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Eidgah Mosque
The large Eidgah Mosque, covering an area of some 73m by 16m, was built in 1735 and was later used by the Sikhs as a military garrison. In turn, the British used it as a courthouse (it was here that Agnew was slain) but it was restored to its original use in 1891 and today has some of the finest blue tilework in Multan. The mosque is about 1km north of Qasim Bagh Fort.
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Central Library
Next door to the Bahawalpur Museum, this fine building houses a well-stocked Central Library. The foundation stone was laid by the then viceroy, Sir Rufus Daniel Isaacs, in 1924. The garden is very restful.
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Lahore Fort
Built, damaged, demolished, rebuilt and restored several times before being given its current form by Emperor Akbar in 1566 (when he made Lahore his capital), the Lahore Fort is the star attraction of the Old City. Note that the museums here may close an hour or so before sunset.
The fort was modified by Jehangir in 1618 and later damaged by the Sikhs and the British, although it has now been partially restored. Within it is a succession of stately palaces, halls and gardens built by Mughal emperors Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, comparable to and contemporary with the other great Mughal forts at Delhi and Agra in India. It's believed that the site conceals so…
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Rohtas Fort
Some 16km northwest of Jhelum, colossal Rohtas Fort is an extraordinary example of military architecture. It was started in 1543 by the Pashtun ruler Sher Shah Suri, to protect the strategic Peshawar to Calcutta (now Kolkata) road from the Mughals and their allies. He never lived to see its completion and work was carried on by succeeding rulers. However, it was soon made redundant when Akbar moved his frontier to Attock and built a new fort there.
The vast fort is now in ruins except for the crenulated outer walls and most of its 12 gates and 68 bastions. The best-preserved remains are to the west; walk through the town to the western Sohal Gate to start your exploration…
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Faqir Khana Museum
About 500m inside Bhatti Gate on the right-hand side, a small mansion houses the Faqir Khana Museum. It houses the treasures of the Faqir family, who have lived in Lahore since the 18th century. It is said to be the largest private collection in south Asia, with over 13,000 pieces of art.
The head of the Lahore branch of the family was a fakir (Muslim ascetic) from Bukhara whose three sons achieved prominence in the court of Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh, despite being Muslims. One son was royal physician, another a foreign minister and the third a finance minister. Largely as a result of their ties with Ranjit Singh, they amassed many valuable antiquities, as direct or hand-me…
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Badshahi Mosque
Completed in 1674 under Aurangzeb as the Mughals' final architectural fling, the sublime Badshahi Mosque, opposite the main gateway to the Lahore Fort, is one of the world's largest mosques. Replete with huge gateways, four tapering minarets of red sandstone, three vast marble domes and an open courtyard said to hold up to 100,000 people, it was damaged by the British and later restored.
The rooms (admission Rs5) above the entrance gate are said to house hairs of the Prophet Mohammed and other relics. The mosque looks lovely when it's illuminated in the evening.
In 1991 the mosque grabbed international headlines when hardline mullahs (Muslim religious leaders) protested at…
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Jehangir's Tomb
Standing in a garden on the northern outskirts of Lahore, the elaborately decorated sandstone Jehangir's Tomb is that of Emperor Jehangir. Built in 1637 by Jehangir's son, Shah Jahan, it's believed to have been designed by Jehangir's widow, Nur Jahan. The tomb is made of marble with trellis decorations of pietra dura bearing the 99 attributes of Allah in Arabic calligraphy. These are inside a vaulted chamber, decorated with marble tracery and cornered with four minarets.
Outside is a sunken passageway with one tunnel supposedly leading to Shalimar Gardens and another to Hiran Minar - both tunnels are now bricked up.
The entrance to the tomb courtyard lies on the right-hand…
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Shalimar Gardens
To the northeast of town, about 4km from the main train station, this was one of three gardens named Shalimar Gardens created by Shah Jahan in the 17th century. It's also the only surviving Mughal garden of several built in Lahore. The Shalimar Gardens are now rather rundown and a far cry from their former glory, but they're still popular with locals. Many of the fountains were under renovation at the time of research and operate at particular times.
The walled gardens were laid out in a central tier with two smaller and lower ones to either side, with a pool of corresponding size, in keeping with the mathematical principles of Mughal design. Visitors originally entered a…
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Lahore Museum
Try to set aside a couple of hours to make the most of a visit to the superb Lahore Museum, which has exhibits spanning the recorded history of the subcontinent. Part of the collection was removed to India after Partition but this is still the biggest and perhaps most impressive museum in Pakistan.
The museum has almost 20 galleries with items dating from the Stone Age to the 20th century. It's particularly famous for its display of Gandharan sculpture (especially the haunting Fasting Buddha), manuscripts, Qurans, its sensational array of miniature paintings, carpets, various pieces of art from the Islamic period, articles from Moenjodaro, Harappa and other Indus Valley c…
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Minar-i-Pakistan
Soaring into the sky in Iqbal Park, the 60m high Minar-i-Pakistan was built in 1960. It commemorates the signing of the Pakistan Resolution on 23 March 1940 by the All India Muslim League, which paved the way for the founding of Pakistan.
Marble tablets around the base record the text of the resolution, as well as the 99 attributes of Allah, passages from the Quran and works of Allama Iqbal and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the two most important figures of the Pakistani independence movement. A lift and stairs once took visitors to the top of the Minar for the spectacular views of Lahore Fort, however, this was recently closed due to the high rate of suicides. In the late afterno…
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Shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh Hajveri
Author of a famous book on mysticism, the 11th-century Data Ganj Bakhsh, originally from Ghazni in Afghanistan, was one of the most successful Sufi preachers on the subcontinent and is today one of the most notable Sufi saints in Pakistan. The Shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh Hajveri is located west of Bhatti Gate, just outside the Old City.
Born Abdul Hasan Ali, he was known as Data Ganj Bakhsh (the Bestower of Treasures) because of his generosity towards the less privileged. A hospital and several institutions for the needy have been added near the shrine over the years.
Hordes of devotees gather here on Thursday afternoons to listen to the excellent qawwali.
The urs (death ann…
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Harappa Site
Harappa Site comprises a citadel mound, defensive walls, a drainage system, a cemetery and a huge granary. However, in the past it has been plundered so much by local villagers for bricks to build their houses, and especially by the British for material for the Lahore to Multan railway line, that there is relatively little to see at the site itself. A path snakes around the compound with viewing platforms and a few signs with English descriptions. There is also a smalll but well-kept and interesting Harappa Museum. It exhibits items from the cemetery and other parts of the site, including etched carnelian beads, shell objects, stone tools, domestic implements, pottery, to…
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Zamzama
Zamzama 'He sat in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam-Zammah on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher - The Wonder House, as the Natives call the Lahore Museum. Who hold Zam-Zammah hold the Punjab; for the great green-bronze piece is always first of the conqueror's loot.'
This mighty cannon, made famous at the start of Rudyard Kipling's classic 1901 novel, was originally named Zamzama, meaning 'Lion's Roar' and sits on the medium strip in front of the Lahore Museum. It was used in various battles by the Afghan Durranis and then the Sikhs, before being brought to Lahore by Maharaja Ranjit Singh as a symbol of his conquests. Kipling's father was the …
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Prince Kamran Baradari Park
The baradari (summer pavilion) of Prince Kamran, son of the first Mughal emperor Zahiruddin Babur, stands on a small island in the Ravi River (the river is on the northern outskirts of town). When it was completed in 1540 the Ravi was several hundred metres away and the baradari was in a large garden adjacent to the town. Its two storeys still open to a 12-columned vaulted veranda (baradari literally means 12 gates).
These days a great deal of its former romance has disappeared and few travellers make the trip here.
If water levels are not too low, rowing boats make the return trip from the Lahore side for Rs25 per person (minimum 10 people). Alternatively, you can negotia…
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Chughtai Museum
Originally intended to be temporary but open since 1975, the year Muhammad Abdur Rahman Chughtai died, the Chughtai Museum is just northwest of the intersection of Ferozpur Rd and Gulberg Main Blvd. Recognised as Pakistan's greatest painter and credited with a single-handed renaissance in Islamic art here, Chughtai (1897-1975) produced almost 2000 watercolours, thousands of pencil sketches and nearly 300 etchings and aquatints. He also designed many of Pakistan's stamps and coins.
It's possible to see works of Chughtai that are not in the exhibition if you contact the director, Mr Arif Rahman Chughtai (5850733) in advance. It's also probably a good idea to phone just ahea…
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Shrine of Shams-ud-Din Sabzwari
On the dry bed of the Ravi River, less than 1km northeast of the fort, the Shrine of Shams-ud-Din Sabzwari, who is believed to have lived from 1165 to 1276, was founded by his grandson in 1330 and rebuilt by more distant descendants in about 1780.
One of the most enduring legends about the many miracles of Shams Tabrez is that he moved the sun closer to himself, hence making Multan the hot and dusty city it is today (shams means sun in Arabic). Whether or not the saint has been forgiven for this action, his tomb attracts vast numbers of devotees on his urs, held on 14-16 Rabusani.
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Tomb of Nur Jahan
Just over the railway line from Jehangir's Tomb but not as well preserved is the Tomb of Nur Jahan. After the death of her first husband, an Afghan prince, Nur Jahan was carted off to Delhi, destined for captivity. However, Emperor Jehangir fell in love with her and they married in 1611. He gave her the name Nur Jahan, meaning 'Light of the World', and allowed her to rule alongside him. She died aged 72 in 1645, 18 years after Jehangir, and her tomb was completed in the same year.
One story is that, pining for her dead husband, she planned the tomb herself and wrote its mournful epitaph.
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Shrines & Monuments
Only the most enthusiastic fan of Islamic architecture could fully appreciate all of Multan's shrines, tombs and mosques in a fleeting visit. Many are hidden in the old town; north of Pak Gate (Circular Rd) is Wali Muhammad Mosque (1758) and Phulhattan Mosque (1720), to the northwest is the beautifully tiled Tomb of Yusuf Gardezi and south of this is Tomb of Musa Pak Shahid. There are also several ruined Hindu temples in the area.
Routes can be torturous - hire a guide or try your luck by asking locals to keep pointing you in the right direction.
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