Lahore Fort’s Picture Wall: a collage of colours and lights

90 lights were installed on 1,400-foot -long wall at a cost of Rs1.95m

LAHORE: In order to promote night tourism in Lahore, the entire picture wall of Lahore Fort has been illuminated with 90 lights at a cost of Rs1.95 million.

The wall is 1,400-foot-long and this is the first project in terms of illumination which will be replicated to other parts of the Lahore Fort.

Walled City of Lahore Authority (WLCA) Director General Kamran Lasharie said that the Lahore Fort’s wall is considered the world’s largest picture wall. It is sad that not many people were aware of it, he added.



“Despite its historical importance and uniqueness, this wall remained one of the neglected parts of the Lahore Fort for a long time,” he said. “We have now made it look beautiful at night and hopefully the amazing view at night will attract a lot of tourists.”



Kamran said that WLCA was also working on the prototype project of the picture wall in which two panels were being conserved under the supervision of foreign experts.

WLCA Deputy Director Media Tania Qureshi told The Express Tribune that somehow, the wall had been neglected and not much attention was paid to it in terms of tourism and conservation. “Tourists were not told much about the value and importance of the wall and with this step we plan to start regular night tours to the picture wall and share its historical value with the tourists.”

According to WLCA Director Conservation Najamus Saqib, in September 2015, the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan began the documentation, presentation and promotion of the Lahore Fort Picture Wall, with financial support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture facilitated by the WLCA.



“With this type of project we intend to promote night tourism in Lahore which was long awaited by the tourists,” he said. “With the development of Greater Iqbal Park, I think this will become a good route for the tourists at night. We will get bigger lights for illumination soon while the existing lights will be taken to the Ali Park side of Lahore Fort.”

Established as the world’s largest mural Picture Wall, the Lahore Fort wall was exquisitely decorated with glazed tile and faience mosaics, embellished brickwork, filigree work and frescos during the Mughal period in the reign of Emperor Jahangir in 1624 AD and completed under Emperor Shah Jahan’s reign in 1632 AD.

The1450’x50’ (450 meters long and 17 meters high) wall can be seen right at the entrance of Lahore Fort. The Picture Wall was constructed with small brick masonry with lime mortar, typical to the Mughal era type.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2017.