All About Badshahi Mosque, Pakistan-Zoefact

One of the few important architectural monuments constructed during the long rule of Emperor Aurangzeb from 1658 to 1707 is the Badshahi Mosque (Punjabi and Urdu:????????????, or "Imperial Mosque"). It is the mosque of the Mughal period in Lahore, the capital Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan. It is currently the world’s fifth-largest mosque and was undeniably the world’s largest mosque from 1673 to 1986 when Islamabad’s Faisal Mosque was completed. The mosque is situated west of Lahore Fort on the outskirts of Lahore’s Walled City and is widely regarded as one of the most iconic landmarks in Lahore. Although it was constructed in a time of relative decline late in the Mughal era, its beauty, elegance, and size, like no other monument in Lahore, epitomize Mughal cultural achievement. Replete with immense walls, four tapering red sandstone minarets, three vast marble domes, and an open courtyard that was said to accommodate up to 100,000 people, it was destroyed and later rebuilt by the British.

It remains the largest mosque of the Mughal period and is Pakistan’s second-largest mosque . The mosque was used as a garrison by the Sikh Empire and the British Empire after the collapse of the Mughal Empire and is now one of Pakistan’s most iconic sights. A square measuring 170 meters on either side is basically the plan for the Badshahi Mosque. Since the north end of the mosque was built along the edge of the Ravi River, a north gate like the one used in the Jama Mosque could not be placed, and a south gate was also not constructed to preserve the overall symmetry. The prayer hall inside the courtyard features four minarets that echo the four minarets at each corner of the perimeter of the mosque in miniature.

The mosque’s full name "Masjid Abul Zafar Muhy-ud-Din Mohammad Alamgir Badshah Ghazi" is written in inlaid marble above the vaulted entrance. It is said that the rooms above the entrance gatehouse the hair of the Prophet Mohammed and other artifacts. When it is illuminated in the evening, the mosque looks lovely. The mosque is also located next to the Roshnai Gate, one of the original thirteen gates of Lahore, which is located to the southern side of the Hazuri Bagh. The Tomb of Muhammad Iqbal, a poet widely revered in Pakistan as the founder of the Pakistan Movement that led to the development of Pakistan as a homeland for the Muslims of British India, lies near the entrance of the mosque.

The mosque stands at each corner in a walled enclosure with high minarets, all constructed on a high plinth that raises it above the town and fort. Each corner of the mosque itself is marked by another set of minarets. In the imperial view, the importance of the mosque was such that it was built just a few hundred meters west of the Fort of Lahore. Added to the fort was a special gate facing the mosque and called the Alamgiri gate. The field between the future Hazuri Bagh garden was used as a parade ground where his troops and courtiers would be inspected by Aurangzeb. Since the latter was built on a six-meter plinth to help avoid flooding, the Hazuri Bagh seems to be at a lower level than the mosque. The tomb of Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, who is credited with playing a major role in maintaining and rebuilding the mosque, is also located near the mosque’s entrance.

The elevated central Iran façade is arcaded. Completing the composition are three white marble double-domes, the central one significantly larger than the others. In 1818, in the Hazuri Bagh facing the mosque, known as the Hazuri Bagh Baradari, Maharaja Ranjit Singh constructed a marble building which he used as his official Royal Court of Audience. The Sikhs from other monuments in Lahore may have plundered marble slabs for the baradari. He noted that the mosque was used as an exercise ground for the Sipahi infantry when William Moorcroft of England visited Lahore in 1820. Twenty years later, a moderate earthquake reached the shore and the delicate marble turrets at the top of each minaret collapsed. The open turrets were used a year later as gun locations when Ranjit Singh’s son, Sher Singh, occupied the mosque during the Sikh civil war to bomb Lahore Fort.

When hardline mullahs (Muslim religious leaders) protested at the visit of the late Princess of Wales in 1991, the mosque captured international headlines; her skirt was deemed too short and the mosque director was blamed for providing (the then) HRH, a non-Muslim, with a copy of the Quran and allowing her to dress immodestly in the sacred precincts. The case went to court and ended by asking the litigating mullahs to avoid wasting the time of the judge. The Mosque of Badshahi was tentatively identified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. In 2000, an inlay of marble was repaired in the main hall of prayer. Using red sandstone imported from the original Mughal source near Jaipur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan, replacement work on the red sandstone tiles on the large mosque courtyard began in 2008.