“Historical places and buildings are specimens (models) of the art and craft (skill) of olden times.”

The Badshahi Mosque is the biggest mosque in Pakistan, and one of the largest mosques in the world. The Moghul Emperor Aurangzeb had got it built in the 17th century. Though hundreds of years old, the Badshahi Mosque is still grand and perfect. Its building is a true example of Moghul architecture. It shows the real taste of Emperor Aurangzeb for fine mosques and buildings. Thousands of masons and workers had constructed it. The courtyard of the mosque is in red stone. One hundred thousand people can say their prayers here. As we enter the inner parts of the mosque, we are very much impressed by their artistic beauty. The walls and ceilings are made of very precious (expensive) stones and are carved. We can read the verses of the Holy Quran on them.

The entire courtyard is surrounded by hujras or small rooms where the students who had come to stay would probably have been provided with accommodation. These students would have studied at the madrassa at the mosque because in those times almost all the mosques also served as madrassas (religious schools). They would have learned the holy Quran and Arabic from the Imam and other resident scholars of the Badshahi mosque. The British demolished the hujras on the east side of the mosque so that this mosque could not be turned into a fort to be used against the British. An interesting thing about this mosque is that although it has been built on an extremely grand scale and no apparent expense has been omitted in decorating it yet their are only two inscriptions on the entire mosque. One is the inscription on the main gate, which gives us the name of the founder of the mosque along with the name of the supervisor and the date of its completion.