Architecture of Lahore - Sikh Architecture

Sikh Architecture

Sikh Architecture, is a style of architecture that is characterised with values of progressiveness, exquisite intricacy, austere beauty and logical flowing lines. This form of architecture was initially developed within Sikhism its style is used in many non-religious building due its beauty. 300 years ago, Sikh architecture was distinguished for its many curves and straight lines, Shri Keshgarh Sahib and the Golden Temple are prime examples and history of a gurdwara. Apart from buildings of religious order, Sikh architecture has secular types of forts, palaces, bungas (residential places), colleges, etc. The religious structure is the gurdwara, a place where the Guru dwells. A gurdwara is not only the all-important building of the Faith, as masjid or mosque of the Islamic faith and mandir or temple of the Hindu religion, but it is also, like its Islamic and Hindu counterparts, the keynote of Sikh architecture.

The Samadhi of Ranjit Singh is the mausoleum of the Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It is located near the Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. Construction was started by his son, Kharak Singh on the spot where he was cremated, and was completed by his youngest son, Duleep Singh in 1848. The tomb exmeplifies Sikh architecture, it is gilded fluted domes and cupolas and an ornate balustrade round the top. Ranjit Singh's ashes are contained in a marble urn in the shape of a lotus, sheltered under a marble pavilion inlaid with pietra dura, in the centre of the tomb. Two small monuments to the west of the main mausoleum commemorate Ranjit Singh's son Kharak Singh and grandson Nau Nihal Singh, and their wives.