The Sunheri Mosque ( ur, , lit=Golden Mosque), also known as the Talai Mosque, is a late Mughal architecture-era mosque in the

Walled City of Lahore The Walled City of Lahore ( Punjabi & ur, , ''"Inner City"''), also known as Old City, forms the historic core of Lahore, Pakistan. The city was established around 1000 CE in the western half of the Walled City, which was fortified by a mud w ...

, capital of the

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

i province of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

Location

Sunehri Mosque is located in the

History

Unlike the

Wazir Khan Mosque ; ''Masjid Wazīr Khān'') is a 17th-century mosque located in the city of Lahore, capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The mosque was commissioned during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a part of an ensemble of buildings tha ...

and

Badshahi Mosque The Badshahi Mosque ( Urdu, Punjabi: ; literally ''The Royal Mosque'') is a Mughal-era congregational mosque in Lahore, capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The mosque is located west of Lahore Fort along the outskirts of the Walled ...

which were built at the zenith of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

in the 17th century, the Sunehri Mosque was built in 1753 when the empire was in decline. The architect of the

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

was Nawab Bukhari Khan, deputy governor of Lahore during the reign of

Muhammad Shah Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah (born Roshan Akhtar; 7 August 1702 – 26 April 1748) was the 13th Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1719 to 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. After being chosen by the ...

.''Lahore'', Dictionary of Islamic Architecture'', (Routledge, 1996), 159. Local shopkeeper had objected to the construction of a large mosque in a congested area, so Bukhari Khan acquired a fatwa from local religious leaders in order for construction to begin.

Architecture

The mosque was built on a

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

elevated 11 feet off of the bazaars surface, with shops occupying the ground floor beneath the mosque. The shops rents were used to pay for the mosque's upkeep. The architectural style of the mosque reflects influences of

Sikh architecture Sikh architecture is a style of architecture that was developed under Sikh Empire during 18th and 19th century in the Punjab region. Due to its progressive style, it is constantly evolving into many newly developing branches with new contempora ...

from nearby Amritsar. The staircase in front of the mosque has 16 steps, and opens up to a small courtyard measuring 65 feet by 43 feet. An ablution tank is in the centre of this courtyard. The prayer chamber measures 40 feet long, and 16 feet wide. The mosque has a gateway, which measures 21.3 metres in length and a

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

that measures . The marble domes cover seven prayer chambers. Four lofty minarets stand at the four corners of the mosque, each with an outer circumference of , soaring up to .

Conservation

In 2011, the Government of Punjab began a project to restore the mosque with funding from the

Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation is one of many programs run by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as part of its mission of public diplomacy through educational and cultural programming and ...

of the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. Minarets were resurfaced while the domes were re-gilded, while new marble floors were installed.

References

External links

Sunehri Mosque withering away
{{Mughal Empire Religious buildings and structures completed in 1753 Mosques in Lahore Mughal mosques Walled City of Lahore