Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates
Further reading:
R.Lewcock and Z.Freeth, 
Traditional Architecture in Kuwait
and the Northern Gulf,
London 1978.
Kuwait

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159
Lahore
Imperial Mughal capital located in the Punjab region of
Pakistan.
Lahore is located in the eastern Punjab close to the
Indian border and the Sikh city of Amritsar. The
origins of the city are obscure although it is known
that it existed as early as the tenth century. In 1021
the city was captured by Mahmud of Ghazni who
demolished the fort and appointed Malik Ayaz as
governor. In 1037 Malik Ayaz began construction of
a new fort on the remains of the old one, which was
completed in 1040. Excava-tion of the old fort has
recently revealed a section which consists of a mud-
brick wall approximately 4 m high. The new fort was
also built of mud brick and consisted of a large
rectangular enclosure by the banks of the river. In
1556 this fort was demolished by the Mughal
emperor Akbar and replaced with a baked-brick
enclosure fortified with semi-circular bastions. Akbar
extended the area of the fort to the north to enclose
the low lying area next to the river which was
supported on vaulted sub-structures. Akbar’s
construction forms the core of the present fort which
was added to by later Mughal emperors, as well as
Sikh and British rulers of the area. The basic design
of the fort is similar to the Red Fort at Delhi and the
fort at Agra and consists of a huge public courtyard
to the south with the private apartments and gardens
to the north overlooking the river. The public
courtyard known as Jahangir’s Quadrangle contains
some of the best examples of Akbar’s architecture
built in the characteristic red sandstone. The
courtyard is lined by pavilions supported by massive
brackets resting on twin columns. Most of the fort,
however, is attributed to Akbar’s successors, in