Shah Jahan Mosque, Makli Tombs, Sindh, Pakistan Atypical of mosques, this building is elongated along the east-west rather than the usual north-south axis. Red brick is utilized rather than the pink sandstone and marble more commonly associated with Mughal buildings. Quite likely, the decision to use brick was made out of practical concerns of cost and availability, since Thatta does not have much stone. The surfaces are decorated with glazed tiles. The mosque was commissioned by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a gesture of gratitude to the people of Thatta for sheltering him during his youth after his father Emperor Jahangir banished him from Delhi. Several Persian inscriptions on site date the foundation of the mosque to 1644 and its completion to 1647. The floor was paved with stone in 1657. Repair work done during the seventies by the Endowment (Awqaf) Department added a garden to the eastern side. Makli is one of the largest necropolises in the world, with a diameter of approximately 8 kilometers; Makli Hill is supposed to be the burial place of some 125,000 Sufi saints. It is located on the outskirts of Thatta, the capital of lower Sind until the seventeenth century, in what is the southeastern province of present-day Pakistan.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 08:07:05 +0000
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