Name of monument: Rauza Ali Mardan Khan
Location: Mughalpura, Lahore
Date of construction: c.1630’s
Materials of Construction and finishes: Brickwork, red sandstone, marble, fresco paintings, fiance mosaic
Ali Mardan Khan served as governor of Lahore, Kashmir, and Kabul during the Shah Jahan period. He built gardens in Peshawar, Kashmir, several Sarai’s at Kashmir, and the tomb garden of his mother where he was also buried after his death. The tomb is octagonal in plan and rests on a high octagonal podium in the middle of a garden. Each face of the tomb has a high pishtaq. The tomb has a high drum and is surmounted with a double dome. There are eight kiosks one on each angular point. Each side of the octagonal podium measures 58 ft. It was built with traditional bricks and clad with red Mathura sandstone inlaid with white and black marble and basal molding of Attock stone. As per custom, the ladies tomb has a basement where the actual grave lie. The Ali Mardan Khan tomb also has a basement. The tomb was once a magnificent structure once clad with red sandstone. The dome was finished with white marble inlaid with a floral design in black marble. The chattris (domed kiosks) at the corners of the octagon are lost but the surviving one still attests to its former glory. The tomb was profusely decorated with fresco paintings. It is the only tomb in Lahore where the soffit of the pishtaqs having kalib kari was decorated with fresco paintings. The graves were on a three-foot-high red sandstone platform beneath a larger than usual dome which was profusely decorated with inlaid precious and semi-precious stones and fresco floral patterns. The tomb once stood at the center of a paradisiacal garden, a favorite theme as evidenced in other tomb gardens. The tombs have a double-story gateway in the north and are decorated with kashi kari while the interior has beautiful fresco paintings depicting a variety of flowers. It strongly resembles Gulabi Bagh Gateway.
Naqoosh-e-Javidan 