The Mughal Empire

The Lahore Fort

The Lahore Fort, located on the northwestern outskirts of the walled city of Lahore in present-day Pakistan, is fortified palaces of the Mughal architecture tradition, with a history that extends from the pre-Mughal period to the reign of Shah Jahan in the mid-seventeenth century. The fort as it survives today is principally the work of Akbar, who reconstructed the existing fortifications in red sandstone from 1566, and of his successors Jahangir and Shah Jahan, who added the principal marble buildings that constitute the most distinctive features of the inner precinct. The fort is closely associated with the Badshahi Mosque, which lies outside the eastern gate, and the Shalimar Gardens, which lie to the east of the city. The three monuments form a coherent architectural ensemble that has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1981 as part of the “Fort and Shalamar Gardens, Lahore” inscription.

Pre-Mughal History

The site of the Lahore Fort has a history that extends well before the Mughal period. The earliest known fortification on the site is generally dated to the eleventh or twelfth century, and the site was held by a succession of rulers, including the Ghaznavid dynasty, the Ghurid dynasty, the Mamluk Sultanate of Delhi, the Khilji dynasty, the Tughluq dynasty, the Sayyid dynasty, the Lodi dynasty, and the Sur dynasty. The fort was captured by the Mughal emperor Babur in 1524, and the Mughal possession of the site was confirmed by Humayun’s brief occupation of the city in the 1550s. The pre-Mughal remains within the fort have been the subject of considerable archaeological and historical attention, and they provide a useful indication of the layered history of the site.

The pre-Mughal fortifications were substantially rebuilt by Akbar in the 1560s, and the surviving fort is principally the work of the Mughal period. The integration of the pre-Mughal remains with the Mughal buildings is one of the distinctive features of the complex, and it ## Construction by Akbar and Refinement by Jahangir and Shah Jahan

Akbar reconstructed the fort in red sandstone from 1566, transforming the pre-Mughal fortification into a substantial fortified palace that served as the principal residence of the imperial court during the long periods when the court was based in Lahore. The work involved the construction of the massive red sandstone walls, the principal gates, the audience halls, the residential buildings, the mosques, and the service buildings, and the project drew on the resources of the imperial workshop at a moment when the consolidation of Akbar’s authority had stabilised the dynasty’s finances.

The fort was subsequently refined by Jahangir and Shah Jahan in the early seventeenth century, who added the principal marble buildings that constitute the most distinctive features of the inner precinct. The later additions, including the Sheesh Mahal, the Naulakha Pavilion, the Diwan-i-Khas, and the Moti Masjid, are all part of the later programme of imperial patronage that defined the late Jahangir and Shah Jahan periods.

The Key Buildings

The fort contains a remarkable series of buildings, ranging from the audience halls of Akbar’s reign to the marble pavilions of the Jahangir and Shah Jahan periods, and the buildings represent the principal surviving examples of the Mughal palaces tradition in the Punjab region. The key buildings of the complex include the Diwan-i-Aam, the Diwan-i-Khas, the Sheesh Mahal, the Naulakha Pavilion, the Moti Masjid, the Khwabgah, the Paien Bagh, the Shahi Hamam, and the Hathi Paer.

The Diwan-i-Aam, the public audience hall, is a large columned hall in the eastern part of the complex, where the emperor received the public and transacted the routine business of the empire. The Diwan-i-Khas, the private audience hall, is a smaller, more intimate space where the emperor received the principal officers of the state and the foreign envoys. The Sheesh Mahal, the “Palace of Mirrors,” is a small but refined pavilion decorated with mirror-work and stucco ornament that served as a more intimate imperial residence, and it is buildings of the complex.

The Naulakha Pavilion, the “Nine-Lakh Pavilion,” is a small marble pavilion built by Shah Jahan in the 1630s that takes its name from the nine lakh rupees that were said to have been spent on its construction. The pavilion is constructed of white marble with carved and inlaid ornament, and it is one of the most refined examples of the Mughal architecture tradition in the field of small-scale palace design. The Moti Masjid, the “Pearl Mosque,” is a small but refined mosque in white marble that was built by Shah Jahan in the 1630s, and it is one of the three Moti Masjids of the imperial tradition.

The Khwabgah, the “Sleeping Chamber,” is the principal sleeping chamber of the emperor, and it is decorated with carved and inlaid ornament that draws on the broader Mughal architecture tradition. The Paien Bagh, the “Lower Garden,” is a charbagh garden of the four-part type that occupies the central part of the inner precinct and that provides a setting for the principal buildings. The Shahi Hamam, the “Royal Bath,” is a small but refined bathhouse built by Shah Jahan in the 1630s, decorated with carved and inlaid ornament, that served the private ablutions of the emperor and the imperial household. The Hathi Paer, the “Elephant’s Foot,” is a large stone pedestal in the eastern part of the complex that was used to mount elephants for ceremonial purposes.

Integration with the Shalimar Gardens

The fort is closely associated with the Shalimar Gardens, the celebrated Mughal garden that lies to the east of the walled city, and the two monuments form a coherent architectural ensemble that defines the visual identity of Mughal Lahore. The gardens, constructed during the reign of Shah Jahan in the 1630s, are arranged on a series of terraces descending from the higher ground to the river, and the integration of the water, the planting, and the building is a particularly clear expression of the Mughal garden idiom. The integration of the fort with the gardens, the Badshahi Mosque, and the tomb of Jahangir at Shahdara is a clear indication of the breadth of the imperial patronage in the Lahore region, and the ensemble is architectural complexes of the Mughal architecture tradition.

Place Among Mughal Forts

The Lahore Fort is one of the three principal fortified palaces of the Mughal architecture tradition, the others being the Red Fort in Delhi and the Agra Fort. The three forts share a number of common features, including the use of red sandstone as the principal material of the walls, the integration of the audience halls, the residential buildings, the mosques, and the service buildings within a single fortified precinct, and the careful integration of the buildings with the surrounding landscape. The Lahore Fort is distinguished from the other two by the substantial body of marble buildings added by Jahangir and Shah Jahan, the close association with the Shalimar Gardens and the Badshahi Mosque, and the long period of use as an imperial residence through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

UNESCO Status

The fort was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981, and it has been the subject of extensive restoration work in the post-Independence period. The restoration has addressed the structural damage inflicted during the period of Sikh and British use, the conservation of the carved and inlaid ornament, and the development of a comprehensive site management plan. The fort is now a protected monument under the Department of Archaeology of the Government of Pakistan, and it is one of the most visited tourist sites in Lahore.

For the broader context of the imperial building tradition, the Mughal architecture overview pillar offers a synthetic account, while the cluster page on Mughal palaces treats the related building type in greater depth. The Badshahi Mosque and the Tomb of Jahangir long-tail pages treat the related monuments in greater detail, and the Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan clusters provide the political and biographical context for the construction of the fort.

Sources

  • Catherine B. Asher, Architecture of Mughal India (1992), pp. 255–68.