Selected Historical Buildings

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Wazir Mansion:-

Wazir Mansion is located in Kharadar the neighbourhood of Karachi. Wazir Mansion is the birthplace of Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. It now serves as a museum and national archive. The house has been declared as a protected national monument by the Government of Pakistan.

Ziarat Residence:-

Ziarat is most famous for the Residency, where Muhammad Ali Jinnah spent the last days of his life. The Residency was constructed in 1892. It is an important building; the whole building is actually a wooden structure beautifully designed and has great architectural importance. It was originally meant to be a sanatorium, and it was converted into the summer residence of the Agent of the Governor General. It is now a National Monument. The residency catches the tourists’ attention due to its unique location and the wonderful hilly surroundings.

Iqbal Manzil:-

Iqbal Manzil is the birth place of famous poet Dr. Muhammad Allama Iqbal in the centre of the historic city of Sialkot. It has been converted into a museum cum libarary. Iqbal Manzil was purchased in 1861 by Mohammad Rafique, the grandfather of Dr Mohammed Iqbal. The house was originally very small, but each successor kept adding to it and the building grew in size. After the death of his father, Iqbal named his elder brother, Ata Mohammad, the owner of the house. Ata Mohammed left two sons after his death who left the house and took up residences in Karachi and Lahore. Many tourists come especially to Sialkot to take a look at the poet’s home, which has now been restored as part of national heritage, where he lived and wrote poetry that would make him the legend one day that he is.The museum consists of a guided tour of some rooms of the mansion, and displays some furniture and other objects used by Allama Iqbal.The management has displayed some rare pictures of Allama Iqbal, his family, teachers, class fellows and other leaders of the All India Muslim League at the building. Most of these photos hold autographs of Dr Muhammad Iqbal. After the renovation, over 200 people visit the ancient place every day. The Punjab government promise to establish an advanced research centre at Iqbal Manzil has yet to be materialised. A room of Iqbal Manzil houses more than 4,000 old books, among them 2,000 are on Iqbaliyat. It is planned to build a large library by collecting books, both on and by Iqbal, from all over the world where research could being conducted on the poet and his works. This library has already facilitated 5 students to attain their PhD degree on the works of Iqbal.


Mohatta Palace:-

Mohatta Palace is located in Karachi, Sindh. It was built by Shivratan Chandraratan Mohatta, an ambitious self-made Hindu businessman from Marwar as his summer home in the late 1920s. However, he could enjoy this building for only about two decades before political upheaval and the partition of the subcontinent forced him to leave Karachi. He built the Palace in the tradition of stone palaces in Rajasthan, using pink Jodhpur stone in combination with the