Name of Monument: Picture Wall
Location: Lahore Fort
Period of Construction: Jahangir/Shah Jahan reign
Materials of construction:Brick wall with faience mosaic panels, fresco paintings
Brief Description:
Picture Wall of the Lahore Fort covers the northern wall and partly the western wall of Lahore fort. It is the largest mural of its kind in the world. The Picture wall is 1,450 feet long with an average height of 50 ft. It runs from Elephant Gate (Hathi Pol Gate) to Jahangir’s Quadrangle of Lahore Fort. The Picture Wall has 116 mosaic pictures, depicting life and style of Mughal emperors, pictures of animals, birds, battles, hunting of deer with hounds and the dance and music of the royal court. . The picture wall was started by Jahangir, also shows the representation of zodiacal signs of angels, besides illustrations of dancing girls, conjurers, dragons, demons with cloven hoofs and birds, procession of loaded animals and horsemen. It is, in fact, the only Moghul building that has images of dragons, which were never thought to be in the imagination of people of sub-continent. The Picture Wall contained cuerda saca tiles, mosaic panels displaying imagery on different themes. The tiles are made up of the base of terracotta which could be rarely found elsewhere. It is pertinent to mention here, Picture Wall was the reason behind inclusion of Lahore Fort into World Heritage Monument in 1981 by UNESCO. Presently the restoration work is underway. Comprehensive documentation using 3D laser scanners along with total station’ is used to examine the minute details of Picture Wall.
Naqoosh-e-Javidan 