Many books have been published on the subject, but Mamoona Khan’s newly-published “Wazir Khan Mosque” rediscovers the art that has been painstakingly created on the walls and ceilings and explores the undiscovered processes behind the work.
Constructed in the 17th century during Emperor Shah Jahan’s reign, the splendour of the Wazir Khan Mosque is evident with every inch of its walls that are adorned with motifs, drawings and calligraphy. The architecture and art seem to blend together with perfect harmony, any person that has had the fortune to visit this mosque with notice the proud structure echoing with silent history and heritage.
The book solely focuses on the ornamentation of the mosque: each motif is documented with such precision that the depth of research and study is evident at the turn of every page.
At the book launch at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts on Friday, the author narrated the history of the mosque, and with an accompanying slideshow, she pointed out the various organic and non-organic motifs used to decorate the walls, including the calligraphic hadiths and sayings of mystic poets.
The most interesting however is the fact that Khan believes that the artist who painted the walls was not just an artist, but also a scientist and mathematician.
She discovered that each and every motif and intricate geometric shape follows the golden ratio rule (a rule where everything in the universe once broken down sums up to 1.618). Also, some of the designs she calculated later also accumulated to the Bohr atomic model.
Professor Jamila Zaidi highlighted the fact that the book has managed to describe the “minutest details” of the mosque.
“One has to read it to appreciate the style in which the book has been written; one feels as if they’re actually standing there exploring the place,” she said.
Khan regaled the audience with the journey through which the book became possible; it started as a small project initiated by Lok Virsa, and then became an MPhil project, before an examiner gave her the idea that the project was PhD material and could even be published as a book.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Khan estimated that the book took her eight to nine months to compile. “It was a scary but interesting task…although many books have been written on this mosque, most are on historical and architecture perspectives. I focused on the underlying intention of the motifs,” she said.
Even the Arabic verses, and Sufi poetry painted on the walls has perfect symmetrical and geometrical balance, she noted. The passion and hard work put into compiling this book is evident as each page is filled with glossy photographs and extensive detail.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2012.
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