ਲਾਹੌਰਲਾਹੌਰ

Where is Lahore?

Lahore stands on the banks of the Ravi in central-eastern Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital and largest city of Pakistan's Punjab province, the country's most populated province, and the second-largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, with about 13 million people counted in the 2023 census. Lahoris call it the heart of Pakistan, and for Punjabis on both sides of the border it remains the city of memory, the old capital they share.

History: the Mughal city

Lahore is named in a Persian geography written in 982, and it rose to real prominence under the Ghaznavids, who made it their eastern capital in 1152 and their sole capital after the fall of Ghazni in 1163. The shrine of Data Darbar honours the saint Ali Hujwiri, who lived in the city in the 11th century.

From 1524 to 1752 Lahore belonged to the Mughal Empire, and the city touched its zenith under Mughal rule. The emperor Akbar made it his imperial capital from 1584 to 1598 and raised the great fort. His son Jahangir added buildings to the fort and lies buried in the city. Jahangir's son Shah Jahan was born in Lahore, extended the fort in white marble, and laid out the Shalimar Gardens in 1641. The last of the great Mughals, Aurangzeb, gave the city its most famous monument: the Badshahi Mosque, built between 1671 and 1673 opposite the Lahore Fort, along with the fort's Alamgiri Gate.

Capital of the Sikh Empire

As Mughal power crumbled in the 18th century, Lahore changed hands again and again until, on 7 July 1799, Ranjit Singh took the city and made it his capital. For the next forty years Lahore was the seat of the Sikh Empire. Ranjit Singh repaired the Mughal monuments, built the marble Hazuri Bagh Baradari in 1818 facing the Badshahi Mosque, and held his court there. For a time the great mosque's courtyard served as a stable for his cavalry's horses. After his death in 1839, his son began the samadhi that still stands beside the mosque. The British annexed the city in 1849 after the Second Anglo-Sikh War.

British rule and Partition

Under the British, Lahore became the capital of Punjab Province and a major centre of education, with colleges and institutions that shaped modern Punjab. The city stood at the centre of the independence movements: it was the site of both the Declaration of Indian Independence and the resolution for the establishment of Pakistan. Partition in 1947 brought rioting to the city, and Lahore became part of Pakistan, remaining the capital of its Punjab province.

The city today

The 2023 census counted 13,004,135 people in Lahore district, all of them in urban areas. About three in four residents report Punjabi as their mother tongue, with Urdu next at about one in five, and the literacy rate stands near 80 per cent. Lahore is a UNESCO City of Literature and a major centre of Pakistan's publishing industry. It is home to the country's Punjabi film industry, Lollywood, and to a celebrated Qawwali music scene. Its food streets draw Lahoris late into the night, and spring once brought the kite-flying festival of Basant, when the sky over the old city filled with colour.

Getting around the city changed in October 2020, when the Orange Line, Pakistan's first metro train, opened with 26 stations running from Ali Town to Dera Gujran, joining the city's Metrobus network. The city's airport is Allama Iqbal International.

What is Lahore known for?

Its monuments first. The Lahore Fort and the Shalimar Gardens are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, inscribed in 1981. The Badshahi Mosque, completed in 1673, stands opposite the fort's Alamgiri Gate across the Hazuri Bagh quadrangle, and near its entrance lies the tomb of the poet Muhammad Iqbal. The richly decorated Wazir Khan Mosque and the old Walled City, with its thirteen gates, repay slow walking. Data Darbar honours the 11th-century saint Ali Hujwiri, and the samadhi of Ranjit Singh stands beside the Badshahi Mosque.

Notable people

Two figures of Sikh and Mughal history were born here. Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru, was born as Bhai Jetha on 24 September 1534 in Chuna Mandi, in the Walled City. The Gurdwara Janam Asthan Guru Ram Das marks the site, and he went on to found the city of Amritsar. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was also born in Lahore.

The poet Muhammad Iqbal, widely revered in Pakistan as a founder of the Pakistan Movement, lies buried near the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque. In local tradition the city's patron saint is Ali Hujwiri, the 11th-century Sufi whose shrine is Data Darbar.