Walled City of Lahore in the context of "Badshahi Mosque"

Lahore is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is the second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and 27th largest in the world, with a population of over 14 million. Lahore is one of Pakistan's major industrial, educational and economic hubs. It has been the historic capital and cultural centre of the wider Punjab region, and is one of Pakistan's most socially liberal, progressive, and cosmopolitan cities.

Lahore's origin dates back to antiquity. The city has been inhabited for around two millennia, although it rose to prominence in the late 10th century with the establishment of the Walled City, its fortified interior. Lahore served as the capital of several empires during the mediaeval era, including the Hindu Shahis, Ghaznavid Empire and Delhi Sultanate. It reached the height of its splendour under the Mughal Empire between the late 16th and early 18th centuries, being its capital city for many years. During this period, it was one of the largest cities in the world. The city was captured by the forces of the Afsharid ruler Nader Shah in 1739. Although the Mughal authority was re-established, it fell into a period of decay while being contested among the Afghans and the Sikhs between 1748 and 1798, eventually becoming capital of the Sikh Empire in the early 19th century. Lahore was annexed to the British Raj in 1849 and became the capital of British Punjab. Lahore was central to the independence movements of British India, with the city being the site of both the Declaration of Indian Independence and the resolution calling for the establishment of Pakistan. It experienced some of the worst rioting during the partition of British India preceding Pakistan's establishment. Following the success of the Pakistan Movement and the subsequent partition in 1947, Lahore was declared the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province.

The Lahore Fort (Punjabi: شاہی قلعہ, romanized: Śā'ī Qilā; Urdu: شاہی قلعہ, romanized: Śāhī Qil'ā; lit. 'Royal Fort') is a citadel in the walled interior of Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan. The fortress is located at the northern end of the Walled City and is spread over an area greater than 20 hectares (49 acres). It contains 21 notable monuments, some of which date to the era of Emperor Akbar. The Lahore Fort is notable for having been almost entirely rebuilt in the 17th century, when the Mughal Empire was at the height of its splendor and opulence.

Though the site of the present fort has been inhabited for millennia, the first record of a fortified structure at the site was that of an 11th-century mudbrick fort. The foundations of the modern fort was laid in 1566 ,during the reign of Emperor Akbar, in a syncretic architectural style that featured both Islamic and Hindu motifs. Additions from the Shah Jahan period are characterized by marble with inlaid Persian floral designs, while the fort's grand Alamgiri Gate was constructed by the last of the great Mughal emperors, Aurangzeb, and faces the Badshahi Mosque.

The Samadhi of Ranjit Singh is a 19th-century building in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, that houses the funerary urns of the former Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It is located within the Walled City, adjacent to the Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque, and the Gurdwara Dera Sahib. Its construction was started by his son and successor, Maharaja Kharak Singh, after the Maharaja's death in 1839, and completed nine years later. It overlooks the Hazuri Bagh, built by Ranjit Singh, to its south.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).