Walled City
Like all ancient cities, Lahore also has two faces, the old and the new. It is situated next to the river Ravi, which helped the city develop economically, demographically and culturally. Trade, food and communication, were all made possible due to the strategic location of the city. The old city is the reminiscent of the past glory of Lahore and the new city gives a prospectus of its bright and prosperous future. The city is built in the shape of a parallelogram and the area within the walls is about 461 acres (1.87 km2). This walled city is slightly elevated hence protecting it from destruction and any outside invasion. It was Akbar who, during his stay in Lahore, built a brick wall around the city to protect it. Since the walls had decayed overtime, when Ranjit Singh came into power afterwards he rebuilt these walls and added a deep broad ditch around. This ditch was further filled with fine gardens, and encircled the city on every side except the north. Access to the city was possible through the thirteen gateways.
Read more about this topic: Architecture Of Lahore
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