The city of Lahore is a treasure trove of historic buildings.
The ancient gates of Lahore contain all the colors and history of the ancient world.
Today we will go through one of these gates and visit the most unique royal bath or Wazir
Khan bath which is unique in Asia.
The Delhi Gate of Lahore was one of the most important gates of Lahore during the Mughal
Empire.
The one and a half kilometer long road from Delhi Gate to Kotwali on the east side of
Lahore was also called the Royal Passage as it was the path of kings.
As soon as you enter from Delhi Gate, there is a royal bath a few steps away.
For a long time, the baths were used by travelers and city dwellers, and an inn was built nearby,
the traces of which are no longer found.
Famous historian Kanhaiya Lal, born in June 1830 wrote in his urdu Book Tarikh Lahore
(History of Lahore) That : First Delhi Gate.
This gate faces east towards the city of Delhi, hence it is called Delhi Gate.
This is one of the famous gates of Lahore and this is very busy road for public.
Because Railway station has been built outside this gate.
And the big cities in the same direction are Amritsar and Jalandhar.
Train passengers and traders all exit through this gate and those who come from outside
enter the city.
Inside this gate, a straight road leads to the fort.
The Wazir Khan Mosque, a well-known building and the beauty of city and of course of power
of the city, is inside the same gate.
Sarai Wazir Khan and Hammam Wazir Khan which is counted in the endowments of the mosque
is near this door.
The Shahi Hammam The Royal bathhouse, also known as Hammam Wazir Khan, is the only remaining
of its type bathhouse in Lahore.
During the Mughal era, public baths were introduced based on Persian models and boomed for a time,
though their popularity never reached the level maintained in Persia because public
baths were not an established cultural institution in the Punjab.
Today, the Shahi Hammam is no longer in use and has been converted into a tourist information
center.
The Shahi Hammam The Royal Baths, is a old Persian-style bath which was built in Lahore,
Than India now Pakistan, in 1635 C.E. during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan.
It was built by chief physician to the Mughal Court, Sheikh Ilm-ud-din Ansari, who was widely
known as Wazir Khan.
Wazir khan was a actual resident of Chiniot and there he studied and practiced medicine.
But when there was a shortage of livelihood, he came to Lahore.
And from there he went to Delhi and from Delhi to Akbarabad.
In Search of good fortune, In Akbarabad, Shah Jahan became famous in the court as a result
of successful treatment of the king's mother.
But Wazir Khan became more famous and specially close to the king when a boil appeared in
the foot of Noor Jahan, the beloved wife of King Jahangir, All the royal physicians decided
to cut the boil.
This was not acceptable to Noor Jahan.
Neither king, who did not want the queen to go through this pain.
At this point Hakim Wazir Khan was summoned.
wazir khan also suggested that cut is the only cure for this boil, but he deal it with
quite intelligently, He hid the Lancet in the sand with such skill and perfection and
wisdom and told the queen to walk on this sand as when the boil of the queen's foot
fell on this lancet.
The boil was cut without any pain and the queen got rid of this pain.
The queen and the king were very happy with Wazir Khan’s wisdom and gave him a reward
of eight lakh rupees.
The queen and her companions women took off all their jewelery and gave it to Wazir Khan.
At that time, Wazir Khan had accumulated Rs. 22 lakhs.
Hakim Wazir Khan was later appointed Governor of Lahore.
And the royal physician in addition.
When Wazir Khan was appointed Nazim of Lahore by Shah Jahan in 1632.
He served as the Nazim of Lahore for 8 years.
Nawab Wazir Khan often received rewards from the royal court.
Therefore, in 1634, he laid the foundation stone of three buildings at the same time.
One of which The mosque was Wazir Khan which was built
in 3 years, the royal bath in 2 years and the fairy palace in 1 year.
The Shahi Hammam is located just within the Walled City of Lahore, steps away from the
Delhi Gate.
The Shahi Hammam is the last remaining Mughal-era hammam in Lahore.
During the Mughal era, Persian-style hammams were introduced although they never achieved
the same levels of popularity in the Mughal Empire as they did in Persia.
The Shahi Hammam was built in 1635 by Ilam-ud-din Ansari, Governor of Lahore, as part of an
endowment which included the Wazir Khan Mosque.
The baths fell into disuse by the 18th century during the decline and fall of the Mughal
Empire.
From the early British period onwards the building was used for different purposes - as
a primary school, dispensary, and recreational centre as well as an office for the local
municipality.
Additionally, shops were built into the building’s northern, western and southern façades.
Excavations as part of restoration works completed in 2015 revealed that substantial parts of
the building had previously been demolished, likely to make way for the reconstruction
of Delhi Gate building in the 1860s.
The hammam consisted of three parts: dressing area, warm baths, and hot baths.
It contained separate facilities for men and women to bathe and also included amenities
such as a reception chamber and a small prayer room.
In the bath Water flowed like a waterfall from all sides in the special sitting rooms.
In these special rooms, the royal family was given massages by their servants.
There is a small mosque inside this bath.
Altogether all these baths are located under one roof.
The royal bath has a total of 21 rooms.
In 8 of them, freshwater baths made of marble were made for bathing.
8 hot water baths and 5 steam bathrooms were built in Turkish style.
The only building of its kind in South Asia, Shah Jahan masterpiece of architecture, a
blend of Persian and Turkish design.
It is a single storey building covering an area of more than 1000 square meters.
There is an additional room facing the qiblah for prayers.
It has 21 rooms and eight pools for hot and cold bathing.
Five rooms were reserved for the sauna.
The heating system was destroyed in the Sikh era but the British did not try to restore
it.
Instead, it was used for residential purposes.
Complete confidentiality was maintained.
There are wonderful flower paintings on the ceilings and walls.
The only source of light in the bathroom was the lighthouse.
There were special rooms for luxurious massages.
There was a female staff for women.
It is said that the day was also special for women.
The entire hammam was illuminated from above with small openings on the roof for sunlight
which filtered through several openings which also aided ventilation by allowing hot air
to flow out from the facility.
Since the walls had relatively few windows, merchants were able to set up shops directly
abutting the hammam.
In 1955, the royal baths were recognized as a cultural asset.
In 1991, the limestone on the walls was skillfully removed, revealing the carvings.
Due to lack of funds, the floor was made of marble, under which ponds, waterfalls and
water heating systems were suppressed.
There is no such bath in the whole subcontinent.
When excavated, a world of wonders was found.
Porcelain and earthenware artifacts, furnace nets, intricate water passages, heat-retaining
bricks, small pillar heating and steam systems, cold water fountains, massage parlors A 20-foot-deep
pit was dug for drainage, and a 17-foot-deep hole was found, supplying water to the entire
bath.
New surprises with each passing day.
But not easily.
Every step of the way, the bricks of the British era block the way of the image of the past.
Most of the hammam's interior was preserved intact, and several Mughal era frescoes have
been preserved.
As the façade had few windows, merchant shops were permitted to operate along the hammam's
outer walls.
The baths were built to serve as a waqf, or endowment, for the maintenance of the Wazir
Khan Mosque.
No longer used as a hammam, the baths were restored between 2013 and 2015 by the Aga
Khan Trust for Culture and the Walled City of Lahore Authority, with much of the funding
provided by the government of Norway.
The Norwegian government has provided 6.5 million for the rehabilitation, including
assistance from the Walled City Authority.
The restoration project was given an Award of Merit by UNESCO in 2016 for the hammam's
successful conservation which returned it to its "former prominence."
In This restoration, A new wall has been built around the Royal Bathhouse to keep it safe.
Centuries have passed since the walls of the Mughal period collapsed.
Facilities such as toilets and cafeterias are also being built for tourists, but the
difference between the old and the new has been kept clear.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, with funding from the government of Norway, began restoration
works at the baths to conserve the space, restore the original layout of the building,
and to uncover and preserve Mughal-era frescoes which decorated the building's walls.
Works were completed in 2015, and are the improvements are said to have changed the
surroundings "dramatically."
Rashid Makhdoom is the architect of the Royal Bath Restoration Project.
In 2016, UNESCO awarded the Shahi Hamam restoration project an Award of Merit for its "high degree
of technical proficiency" and "for returning the ornate Shahi Hammam to its former prominence."
Excavations have unearthed a water heating structure, drainage systems, and under-floor
remains of its hypocausts.
Unfortunately, the actual bathing facilities were filled in and tiled over in the mid 1990s
when the building was briefly converted to another purpose.
In recent years the site has been acquired by the Tourist Information Center of Lahore
and is being conserved.
About 75% of the interior area is now open to the public.
Image drawn by Timothy M Ciccone based on photos and site plan in "Architecture of Pakistan"
by Kamil Khan Mumtaz.