The Shalimar Gardens ( ur, , translit=Shālāmār Bāgh) are a

Mughal garden Mughal gardens are a type of garden built by the Mughals. This style was influenced by the Persian gardens particularly the Charbagh structure, which is intended to create a representation of an earthly utopia in which humans co-exist in pe ...

complex located in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

, Pakistan. The gardens date from the period when the Mughal Empire was at its artistic and aesthetic zenith, and are now one of Pakistan's most popular tourist destinations. The Shalimar Gardens were laid out as a Persian paradise garden intended to create a representation of an earthly utopia in which humans co-exist in perfect harmony with all elements of nature. Construction of the gardens began in 1641 during the reign of Emperor

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

, and was completed in 1642. In 1981 the Shalimar Gardens were inscribed as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

as they embody Mughal garden design at the apogee of its development.

Names

The courtiers told the Maharaja

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He ...

"that Shala was a Turkic word which means pleasure and the mar means the place to live in". "The arguments of the courtiers in favour of the Turkic signification of the word failing to make any impression on Ranjit Singh, he gave his own name to the garden, and called it “''Shahla Bagh''” شهلا باغ, “''Shahla''” meaning in Persian “sweetheart” with dark gray eyes and a shade of red and “''Bagh''” meaning “garden.”" The gardens are however still known as the "Shalimar Gardens" nowadays. According to Muhammad Ishtiaq Khan,

Location

The Shalimar Garden is located next to the

Grand Trunk Road The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...

, about east of the Delhi Gate of the

Walled City of Lahore The Walled City of Lahore ( Punjabi & ur, , ''"Inner City"''), also known as Old City, forms the historic core of Lahore, Pakistan. The city was established around 1000 CE in the western half of the Walled City, which was fortified by a mud w ...

Background

Lahore's Shalimar Gardens were built by the Mughal royal family primarily as a venue for them to entertain guests, though a large portion was open to the general public. The gardens' design was influenced by the older Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir that were built by Shah Jahan's father, Emperor

Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...

. Unlike the gardens in Kashmir which relied on naturally sloping landscapes, the waterworks in Lahore required extensive engineering to create artificial cascades and terraces. The Shalimar Gardens were designed as a Persian-style ''

Charbagh ''Charbagh'' or ''Chahar Bagh'' ( ''chahār bāgh'', ''chārbāgh'', ''chār bāgh'', meaning "four gardens") is a Persian and Indo-Persian quadrilateral garden layout based on the four gardens of Paradise mentioned in the Quran. The quad ...

'' "Paradise garden" - a microcosm of an earthly utopia. Though the word ''Bagh'' is translated simply as "garden," ''bagh'' represents a harmonious existence between humans and nature, and represents a poetic connection between heaven and earth. All natural elements of the ''bagh'' are appreciated - including the sun, moon, and air.

Muhammad Saleh Kamboh Muhammad Saleh Kamboh Lahori ( ur, محمد صالح کمبوہ لاہوری) was a noted calligraphist and official biographer of Emperor Shah Jahan and the teacher of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Though a widely read person, little is known of the ...

, historian to

, reported that the gardens of Kashmir inspired the design for the Shalimar Garden in Lahore, and that a wide variety of trees and flowers grew together in the garden. The site was chosen for its stable water supply. The project was managed by Khalilullah Khan, a noble of

's court, in cooperation with and

Mulla Alaul Maulk Tuni Mulla Alaul Maulk Tuni ( fa, ملا علاءالملک تونی) was an Iranian architect. He was born in Ferdows (named "''Toon''" historically) in the 17th century. He cooperated with Ali Mardan Khan in the construction of the Shalimar Gardens i ...

. Ali Mardan Khan was responsible for most of the construction, and had a 100-mile-long canal built to bring water from the foothills of Kashmir to the site. The site of the Shalimar Gardens originally belonged to the

Arain Arain (also known as Raeen) are a large Punjabi agricultural tribe with strong political identity and organisation, found mainly in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh with a small population in parts of Indian Punjab, Uttar Pradesh ...

Mian Family Baghbanpura Belonging to the Arain tribe of Punjab region, they are an aristocratic noble family originally from Areha Jericho Modern Palestine who entered in Indian Subcontinent with Umayyad Arab General Muhammad bin Qasim. The family has made great contrib ...

. Mian Muhammad Yusuf, then the head of the Arain

Mian family Mian may refer to: People and languages * Mian (surname), including a list of people with the surname * Mian (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Mian family of Baghbanpura, a noble Arain family of Lahore, Pakistan *Mia ...

, ceded the site of ''Ishaq Pura'' to the Emperor Shah Jahan in order for the gardens to be built. In return, Shah Jahan granted the Arain Mian family governance of the Shalimar Gardens, and the gardens remained under their custodianship for over 350 years.

History

Construction of the gardens began on 12 June 1641, and took 18 months to complete. During the Sikh era, much of the garden's marble was pillaged and used to decorate the Golden Temple and the Ram Bagh Palace in nearby

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha ...

, while the gardens' costly

agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Anci ...

gate was stripped and sold by Lehna Singh Majithia. In 1806 the Maharaja ordered the Shalimar Gardens to be repaired. The Gardens were nationalised in 1962 by

General Ayub Khan Muhammad Ayub Khan (Urdu: ; 14 May 1907 – 19 April 1974), was the second President of Pakistan. He was an army general who seized the presidency from Iskander Mirza in a coup in 1958, the first successful coup d'état in the country's h ...

because leading

members had opposed his imposition of martial law in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. The annual

Mela Chiraghan Mela Chiraghan or Mela Shalimar ( pa, ; "Festival of Lights") is a three-day annual festival to mark the urs (death anniversary) of the Punjabi poet and Sufi saint Shah Hussain (1538-1599) who lived in Lahore in the 16th century. It takes place ...

festival used to take place in the gardens until

forbade it in 1958.

Design and layout

Mughal Gardens were based upon Timurid gardens built in Central Asia and Iran between the 14th and 16th century. A high brick wall richly decorated with intricate

fretwork Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw, coping saw, jigsaw or scroll saw. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly us ...

encloses the site in order to allow for the creation of a ''

'' paradise garden - a microcosm of an earthly utopia. The Shalimar Gardens are laid out in the form of a rectangle aligned along a north–south axis, and measure 658 metres by 258 metres, and cover an area of 16

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s. Each terrace level is 4–5 metres (13–15 feet) higher than the previous level. The uppermost terrace of the gardens is named ''Bagh-e-Farah Baksh'', literally meaning ''Bestower of Pleasure''. The second and third terraces are jointly known as the ''Bagh-e-Faiz Baksh'', meaning ''Bestower of Goodness''. The first and third terraces are both shaped as squares, while the second terrace is a narrow rectangle. Shalimar's main entrance was onto the lower-most terrace, which was open to noblemen, and occasionally to the public. The middle terrace was the Emperor's Garden, and contained the most elaborate waterworks of any Mughal garden. The highest terrace was reserved for the Emperor's ''harem''. The square shaped terraces were both divided into four equivalent smaller squares by long fountains flanked by brick ''khayaban'' walkways designed to be elevated in order to provide better views of the garden. Cascades were made to flow over a marble paths in what are known as ''chadors'', or "curtains" into the middle terrace. Water collected into a large pool, known as a ''haūz'', over which a seating pavilion was made.

Water features

The Shalimar Garden's contain the most waterworks of any Mughal Garden. It contains 410 fountains, which discharge into wide marble pools, each known as a ''haūz''. The enclosed garden is rendered cooler than surrounding areas by the garden's dense foliage, and water features - a relief during Lahore's blistering summers, with temperature sometimes exceeding . The distribution of the fountains is as follows: * The upper level terrace has 105 fountains. * The middle level terrace has 152 fountains. * The lower level terrace has 153 fountains. * All combined, the Gardens has 410 fountains. The Gardens have 5 water cascades including ''the great marble cascade'' and ''Sawan Bhadoon''.

Garden pavilions

The buildings of the Gardens include:

Conservation

In 1981, Shalimar Gardens was included as a

along with the

Lahore Fort The Lahore Fort ( ur, , lit=Royal Fort, translit=Shāhī Qilā, label=Punjabi and Urdu) is a citadel in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. The fortress is located at the northern end of walled city Lahore, and spreads over an area greater than ...

, under the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

Convention concerning the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage sites in 1972.

Gallery

File:Shalimar Gardens, Nigar Khana.jpg, Nigar Khana File:Shalimar bagh.12.jpg File:Chini Khanas, Shalimar Gardens, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.jpg, File:Shalimar garden 1.JPG, File:Faiz Baksh means Bestower of Goodness. (Middle Terrace).jpg, File:Corridor of Faiz Baksh terrace.jpg, File:Shalamar Baradari.jpg, File:Shalimar garden lahore.jpg, File:Shalimar Gardens - Aunzee 43.jpg, File:Shalimar Gardens - Aunzee 50.jpg, File:Shalimar Gardens - Aunzee 48.jpg, File:Beautiful pavilion of Faiz Baksh terrace.jpg, File:Faiz Bakhsh Terrace (Shalimar Gardens middle terrace) by Aunzee.jpg, File:Shalamar Garden July 14 2005-East wall corner of the second level.jpg, East wall corner of the second level terrace File:Shalamar Garden July 14 2005-Minaret on west corner of second level.jpg, Minaret on the west wall corner of the second level terrace File:Shalamar Garden July 14 2005-East side red pavilion on second level.jpg, A Mughal style structure inside the gardens File:Iphone5_(6386).JPG, File:Hayat Baksh (Bestower of life) terrace - Shalimar Gardens.jpg, File:Carving door of Shalimar Gardens, Lahore.jpg

References

External links

UNESCO World Heritage Site ProfileThe Herbert Offen Research Collection of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex MuseumSattar Sikander, ''The Shalimar: A Typical Muslim Garden'', Islamic Environmental Design Research CentreChapter on Mughal Gardens from Dunbarton Oaks discusses the Shalimar GardensIrrigating the Shalimar Gardens in addition to canal named Shah Nahar Youtube link in Urdu
{{World Heritage Sites in Pakistan, state=expanded 1642 establishments in Asia Mughal gardens in Pakistan Mughal terraced gardens Fountains in Pakistan Parks in Lahore Persian gardens in Pakistan Royal residences in Pakistan Tourist attractions in Lahore World Heritage Sites in Pakistan World Heritage Sites in Danger Gardens in Lahore