The Bahawalpur Central Library (), also known as Sadiq Reading Library, is a public library in

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur (Urdu: ; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 13th largest city of Pakistan and List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, 8th most populous city of Punjab. Bahawalpur is the capital of Bahawalpur Division. Founded in ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is the second largest library in the province of Punjab.

History

It was founded on 8 March 1924 by Sir Rufus Daniel Issacs during the coronation year of

Sadeq Mohammad Khan V General Nawab Sir Sadiq Mohammad Khan V Abbasi (; 29 September 1904 – 24 May 1966) was the 12th and final Nawab (''ruler'') of the state of Bahawalpur from February 1907 to October 1955, and then as a titular figure until his death in 1 ...

. It was bult at a cost of 100,000 rupees by Bahawalpur State.

Architecture

The library is one of the buildings built by the Nawabs that was designed in a hybrid Neo-Gothic-Victorian style. Unlike other royal buildings, arches in the library are not multi-foiled, but are instead single-foiled. A porch wraps around some of the building, and has an octagonal tower with

Jali A ''jali'' or ''jaali'' (''jālī'', meaning "net") is the term for a perforated stone or latticed screen, usually with an ornamental pattern constructed through the use of calligraphy, geometry or natural patterns. This form of architectu ...

work on its arches, and stylized Victorian scrolls at its base.

Collections

The library is divided into three sections: Main Hall, children's books section and audio visual archive section. The library's collection includes older editions of newspapers. It has over 100,000 books, and contains a repository of historic documents related to the state of Bahawalpur and

Khwaja Ghulam Farid Khawaja Ghulam Farid (also romanized as Fareed; /1845 – 24 July 1901) was a 19th-century Sufi poet and mystic from Bahawalpur, Punjab, British India belonging to the Chishti Order. Most of his work is in his mother tongue ''Multani'', or what ...

References

External links

Lets go:Bahawalpur library BBC Urdu
Libraries in Punjab, Pakistan Buildings and structures in Bahawalpur Bahawalpur (princely state) 1924 establishments in British India Libraries established in 1924 Tourist attractions in Bahawalpur {{Pakistan-struct-stub