Royal tombs constitute another group of architectural monuments which form
a class in their own right. Three beautiful tombs of
Emperor Jehangir, his wife Noor Jehan and his brother-in-law Asif Jah at Shahdara
(Lahore) are superb examples of these.
The majestic tomb of Emperor Jehangir, completed in 1637, stands in the middle
of a large symmetrical garden. It is a long
single-storeyed building of red sandstone with four octagonal minarets surmounted
with white marble cupolas. The interior of
the tomb has fresco decorations on walls and floor. The marble cenotaph with
its delicate pietra-dura work, engraved with the
ninety-nine attributes of God, all in beautiful calligraphy, is the finest
example of marble workmanship of the time. The tomb of
Asif Jah displays on its exterior, specimens of rich mural ornamentation of
tile work, one in which the tiles are about 15
centimetres square having the designed carried across the joints so as to
present the effect of a ³free all over pattern.² But it is in
the embellishment of its interior chambers that one finds superb example of
plastic work. On the ceiling, there are the remains of
a graceful interlaced pattern in high relief, executed in plaster and attached
to the concave surface by means of a framework of
bamboos. The design suggests the line of an Italian or Sicilian textile.
Another significant group of tombs in Makli Hills, the necropolis of Thatta,
which has about one million graves scattered over an
area of 15.5 square kilometres. With their stone carving, surface traceries,
and colour tiling, some graves of rulers in this city of
the dead are notable specimens of architecture. The largest and most attractive
monument is the tomb of Isa Khan Tarkhan
who died in 1644. It consists of a square courtyard surrounded by high walls
with two grandiose separate balconies carved
upto the dome. Isa Khan constructed this tremendous place of death in his
life time.
Another interesting feature of Islamic architecture in Pakistan is Hiran
Minar. Minars, towers, and similar erections, not only
formed important part of buildings in Islamic architecture but often, as in
northern Iran, they were also raised as isolated
structures. Situated about 45 kilometres from Lahore, Hiran Minar was raised
under orders of Emperor Jehangir in early 17th
century. It is a tower 33.5 meters high and 9 meters wide. The three-storeyed
monument is in the centre of a tank, 272 meters
long and 174 meters wide.