Pakistani Kids With Flag Of Pakistan

Pakistani Kids With Flag Of Pakistan

Umar Hayat Library In Chiniot Pakistan

Front Door Of Umar Hayat Library Chiniot Pakistan

Omar Hayat Mahal Library (also spelled as Umer Hayat Mahal Library or known as Gulzar Manzil ) is a 19th-century wooden architectural wonder of Chiniot, Pakistan. Omar Hayat Palace is a five story building which stands in the heart of the city. Two upper stories were removed in 1993 due to heavy rainfall and storms which may have affected the adjoining buildings. It is a great tourist attraction for both local and foreign visitors.

History :-

Members of the Shaikh family migrated from Calcutta to Chiniot around the 18th or 19th century. Sheikh Omar Hayat who was a successful trader born in a rich family. He decided to construct a magnificent palace for his newborn son in 1923. Syed Hassan Shah was assigned the task of palace's construction. He gathered many famous artisans from different places who continued working day and night for 10 ten years. Rahim Bakhsh Pirjha and Elahi Bakhsh Pirjha who were masters in manabat kari did wood carving. The house built by Sheikh Omar Hayat is a sort of local wonder, as it's cost was Rs 400,000(according to Govt. of Pakistan's History Records) to make and rises high above all other buildings of area. The construction of the palace completed in 1935 and Mr Hayat expired in same year just a couple of months before its completion. History claims that Mr Hayat's only son Gulzar Muhammad's marriage in 1938 brought an ironic twist of fate in the shape of death. He (Gulzar) was found dead in the palace the very next day of his marriage. The news of son’s death lofted loads of grief on mother who died remembering him. Both the mother and the son were buried in the courtyard of the ground floor of the palace.

Mr Hayat's relatives left the palace thinking it as a subject to bad luck for sheikh family, while servants continued living for a couple of years and then parted from it. An orphanage was established by some religious leaders and then it was evacuated when its top story collapsed. Next came the Qabza groups who got shops and houses constructed on the piece of land lying next to it.

Architecture Of The Palace :-

Architectural Details Of Umar Hayat Library

The palace's building is perhaps the last of Mughal’s architectural style, or a Mughal Revival building ("revival" buildings are interpretations of an old architectural style by people of a later era). Unique carving cuts on the doors, windows and jhirokas reflect a colour of their own. The roofs, balconies, stairways, terrace and the stucco designs make a perfect interior. The facade of the building is decorated with a fine inlay of bricks, the dazzling shine of marble and picturesque shades help it rank among the great palaces of Mughal era landlords.

Recent Years :-

In Year 1997 the municipal committee refused to bear the expenses of the latest achievements and terminated the subscription of newspapers and other reading material. It was later handed over to auqaf department in year 1998 which also failed to improve its condition. The situation is getting worse by day. The library has been closed while the reading room is standing without its assets. It was only in 1989 when the building was last looked worth renovation. At present the palace is very much out of sorts. Its walls have developed cracks rainy water pours in. The woodwork has lost colour.

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Tourism Industry Of Pakistan

Pakistan is among the least racist countries in the world, which has helped it encourage tourism. Writing for the Lonely Planet company, the authors of the 2008 Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway guidebook referred to Pakistan as the tourism industry's "next big thing" due to its grand and diverse features. The authors further explain that "world media headlines" prevent the nation from becoming a considerable force in global tourism. Pakistan, with its diverse cultures, people and landscapes attracted 1 million tourists in 2012. Pakistan's tourism industry was in its heyday during the 1970s when the country received unprecedented amounts of foreign tourists, thanks to the Hippie trail. The main destinations of choice for these tourists were the Khyber Pass, Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore, Swat and Rawalpindi.

Badshahi Masjid In Lahore Pakistan

The country's attraction range from the ruin of civilization such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Taxila, to the Himalayan hill stations, which attract those interested in winter sports. Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over 7000 m, which attracts adventurers and mountaineers from around the world, especially K2. The north part of Pakistan has many old fortresses, ancient architecture and the Hunza and Chitral valley, home to small pre-Islamic Animist Kalasha community claiming descent from Alexander the Great. The romance of the historic Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is timeless and legendary, Punjab province has the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River and the historic city Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital, with many examples of Mughal architecture such as Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and the Lahore Fort. Before the Global economic crisis Pakistan received more than 500,000 tourists annually. However, this number has now come down to near zero figures since 2008 due to instability in the country and many countries declaring Pakistan as unsafe and dangerous to visit.

In October 2006, just one year after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, The Guardian released what it described as "The top five tourist sites in Pakistan" in order to help the country's tourism industry. The five sites included Taxila, Lahore, The Karakoram Highway, Karimabad and Lake Saiful Muluk. To promote Pakistan's unique and various cultural heritage, the Prime Minister launched the "Visit Pakistan" marketing campaign in 2007. This campaign involved various events throughout the year including fairs and religious festivals, regional sporting events, various arts and craft shows, folk festivals and several openings of historical museums. In 2009, The World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Pakistan as one of the top 25% tourist destinations for its World Heritage sites. Ranging from mangroves in the South, to the 5,000-year-old cities of the Indus Valley Civilization which included Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.

Faisal Masjid In Islamabad

Faisal Masjid In Islamabad | Photograph In Day Light

The Faisal Mosque is the largest mosque in Pakistan, located in the national capital city of Islamabad. Completed in 1986, it was designed by Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay to be shaped like a desert Bedouin's tent. It is situated at the north end of Faisal Avenue, putting it at the northernmost end of the city and at the foot of Margalla Hills, the westernmost foothills of the Himalayas. It is located on an elevated area of land against a picturesque backdrop of the Margalla Hills. This enviable location represents the mosque's great importance and allows it to be seen from miles around day and night. The Faisal Mosque is conceived as the National Mosque of Pakistan and named after the late King Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, who supported and financed the project. The largest mosque in South Asia, the Faisal Mosque was the largest mosque in the world from 1986 until 1993, when it was overtaken in size by the newly completed Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. Subsequent expansions of the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) of Mecca and the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) in Medina, Saudi Arabia, during the 1990s relegated Faisal Mosque to fourth place in terms of size.

History :-

The impetus for the mosque began in 1966 when the late King Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz supported the initiative of the Pakistani Government to build a national mosque in Islamabad during an official visit to Pakistan. In 1969, an international competition was held in which architects from 17 countries submitted 43 proposals.

Faisal Masjid In Islamabad | Photograph At Night

The mosque was designed by Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay. Construction of the mosque began in 1976 by National Construction of Pakistan, led by Azim Khan and was funded by the government of Saudi Arabia, at a cost of over 130 million Saudi riyals (approximately 120 million USD today). King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz was instrumental in the funding, and both the mosque and the road leading to it were named after him after his assassination in 1975. The mosque was completed in 1986, and used to house the International Islamic University. Many conservative Muslims criticised the design at first for its unconventional design and lack of a traditional dome structure, but most criticism ended when the completed mosque's scale, form, and setting against the Margalla Hills became evident.

Design :-

The Faisal Mosque is the work of Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay, who won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the project. The mosque's architecture is modern and unique, lacking both the traditional domes and arches of most other mosques around the world. The mosque's unusual design is a departure from the long history of South Asian Islamic architecture, fusing contemporary lines with the more traditional look of an Arab Bedouin's tent, with its large triangular prayer hall and four minarets. However, unlike traditional masjid design, it lacks a dome. The minarets borrow their design from Turkish tradition and are thin and pencil like. The shape of the Faisal Mosque is an eight-sided concrete shell inspired by a desert Beduoin's tent and the cubic Kaaba in Mecca, flanked by four unusual minarets inspired by Turkish architecture. The architect later explained his thinking to design school students:

I tried to capture the spirit, proportion and geometry of Kaaba in a purely abstract manner. Imagine the apex of each of the four minaret as a scaled explosion of four highest corners of Kaaba – thus an unseen Kaaba form is bounded by the minarets at the four corners in a proportion of height to base. Shah Faisal Mosque akin to Kaaba. Now, if you join the apex of each minaret to the base of the minaret diagonally opposite to it correspondingly, a four-sided pyramid shall be bound by these lines at the base side within that invisible cube. That lower level pyramid is treated as a solid body while four minarets with their apex complete the imaginary cube of Kaaba.

Faisal Masjid Decorated On Eid

Entrance is from the east, where the prayer hall is fronted by a courtyard with porticoes. The International Islamic University was housed under the main courtyard, but recently relocated to a new campus. The mosque still houses a library, lecture hall, museum and cafe. The interior of the main tent-shaped hall is covered in white marble and decorated with mosaics and calligraphy by the famous Pakistani artist Sadequain, and a spectacular Turkish-style chandelier. The mosaic pattern adorns the west wall, and has the kalimah written in early Kufic script, repeated in mirror image pattern. Nekka Phullai is the adjacent hill to the mosque in Margalla Hills.

Capacity :-

The Faisal Mosque has covered area of 5,000 m2 (54,000 sq ft). It can accommodate 10,000 worshipers in its main prayer hall, 24,000 in its porticoes, 40,000 in its courtyard, and another 200,000 in its adjoining grounds.  Although its covered main prayer hall is smaller than that of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca (the world's third largest mosque), Faisal Mosque has the third largest capacity of accommodating worshipers in its adjoining grounds after the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) of Mecca, the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) in Medina. Each of the Mosque's four minarets are 80 m (260 ft) high (the tallest minarets in South Asia) and measure 10 x 10 m in circumference.

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