Wazir Khan Mosque

The Wazir Khan Mosque (Masjid Wazīr Khān) is a 17th-century mosque placed in the city of Lahore, capital of the Punjab province. The Mosque was instructed during the reign of the Mughal King Shah Jahan as part of a group of architecture that also included the adjacent Shahi Hammam baths. The construction of Wazir Khan Mosque started in 1634 C.E. and was finished in 1641.

Recognized to be the most ornately decorated Mughal-era mosque, Wazir Khan Mosque is recognized for its intricate faience tile work known as Kashi-Kari. Also, its interior surfaces that are almost entirely beautified with elaborate Mughal era frescoes. The Wazir Khan Mosque has been under massive restoration since 2009 under the supervision of Aga Khan Trust and the Government of Punjab, with contributions from the governments of Germany, Norway, and the United States.

History:

The construction of the Mosque was started under the dynasty of Mughal King Shah Jahan in either 1634 or 1635 and was ended in roughly seven years. The British professor Fred Henry Andrews noted in 1903 that the Mosque is going towards ruination. In the late 1880s, John Lockwood Kipling, rote about the Wazir Khan mosque and its decorative material in the former magazine of Indian Art.

Architecture:

The Wazir Khand Mosque is constructed on an elevated platform, with the main doorway opening to the Wazir Khan Chowk side. The exterior boundary of the Wazir Khan Mosque measures 279 feet by 159 feet, with the long axis correspondence to the Shahi Guzargah. It was built with bricks organize in kankad lime.

Decorative elements:

Almost every interior exterior of the Mosque is lavishly decorated. The Mosque's ceiling is ornately decorated with frescoes. Wazir Khan mosque is distinguished for its elaborate embellishment in a style which draws from the beautifying cultures from several regions. While other historical monuments in Lahore from the Shah Jahan period feature intricate Kashi-Kari tile work, none match the large scale of the Mosque.

Structure:

Bricks facing the Mosque's exterior are richly beautified with the Persian-style title work famous as Kashi-Kari. Façades facing the inner courtyard are lavishly beautified with motifs and palette which display powerful impact from 17th century of Persia. The Persian-style colours used include lajvard (cobalt blue), firozi (cerulean), white, orange, yellow, green and purple, while Persian-influenced motifs include star-shaped motifs and grapevines. The Wazir Khan Mosque also contains motifs of cypress trees, and this is the first Mughal architecture to have imitated this motif from Persia.

The façade of the entry gate facing Wazir Khan Chowk is adorned with beautiful tile-work and the calligraphy that includes verses of the Quran, verses of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, prayers for the Prophet, and calligraphic symbols. Above the iwan entry to the main prayer hall are verses from the Quran's Surah Al-Baqara written by the calligraphist Haji Yousaf Kashmiri.

Frescoes:

The Mosque features highly detailed Mughal frescoes. Unlike the present Shah Jahan Mosque in Sindh, the interior walls of Wazir Khan Mosque are plastered and decorated with highly detailed buon frescoes. The interior ornamental style is unique for Mughal-era mosques, as it connects imperial Mughal elements with local Punjabi beautifying styles. The main prayer-hall contains a square pavilion over which the Mosque's largest dome rests is a Persian form known as Char Taq. The underside of the dome hallmark frescoes depicting trees in pairs, pitchers of wine, and platters of fruit, which are a reference to the Islamic concept of Paradise.

Architectural embellishments:

Conservation:

The mosque compound is listed on the secured Heritage Monuments of the Archaeology Department of the Punjab of government. In 1993 the Wazir Khan Mosque was listed to UNESCO's provisional list for world heritage site status. In 2004, the Government of Punjab put on board for conservations and renovation works for the Mosque. In 2007, the Aga Khan Foundation Trust for Culture collaborated with the Government of Punjab to repair the monument, and in 2009 began a two-year-long in-depth survey of the Mosque as part of a more significant effort to restore the Walled City of Lahore. 

Restoration:

The restoration works at Wazir Khan Mosque began in 2004 and In 2012, the Pilot Urban Conservation and Infrastructure Improvement Project, the Shahi Guzargah Project was launched by the Government of Punjab and the Aga Khan Trust for the culture which restored a section of Shahi Guzargah between the Mosque and Delhi Gate. The project was finished in 2015 with assistance from the governments of Norway and the United States of America.

Before completion of the project's first phase, the vicinity around the Wazir Khan mosque had been infringed upon by illegally erected shops which blocked off much of the Mosque from the surrounding neighbourhood. Obstructed power lines further spoiled views of the Mosque, and the Wazir Khan Chowk had been severely overlooked and had narrowed in size due to illegally constructed shops. The first phase of the project displaced illegally constructed shops, restoring views of the Mosque. Wazir Khan Chowk was rehabilitated mainly by removal of encroachments, while the well of Dina Nath was recovered. Power lines along with this project passage were also put underground, and the Chitta Gate at the eastern approach to Wazir Khan Chowk was restored.

Several archways in the Mosque are furnished with muqarnas. The arched niche at the Mosque's access facing Wazir Khan Chowk is lavishly embellished with floral motifs. It features one of Lahore's first examples of a muqarna is an architectural element found at the Alhamra in Spain, as well as on various magnificent mosques in Iran. The low domes over the prayer hall indicate the way of the earlier Lodi dynasty, which governed Lahore before the Mughal era.