Pakistan’s World Heritage Sites

Pakistan is home to six World Heritage Sites, all six are cultural sites.  A World Heritage Site is a place recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as being of special cultural or physical significance.  To be considered a World Heritage Site, a place must be of “outstanding universal value” and meet at least one of ten criteria.

Below are details about some of Pakistan’s World Heritage Sites.  You can click on the name of each site for more details.

Pakistan’s six cultural World Heritage Sites are:

• Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro
  • Mohenjodaro is an archeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The ruins of the huge city of Moenjodaro – built entirely of unbaked brick in the 3rd millennium B.C. – lie in the Indus valley. The acropolis, set on high embankments, the ramparts, and the lower town, which is laid out according to strict rules, provide evidence of an early system of town planning. Mohenjodaro was abandoned in the 19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilization declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s.
    

• Buddhist Ruins of Takht-i-Bahi and Neighbouring City Remains at Sahr-i-Bahlol
• Taxila
  • Taxila, located in the Rawalpindi district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, is a vast serial site that includes a Mesolithic cave and the archaeological remains of four early settlement sites, Buddhist monasteries, and a Muslim mosque and madrassa. Situated strategically on a branch of the Silk Road that linked China to the West, Taxila reached its apogee between the 1st and 5th centuries. It is now one of the most important archaeological sites in Asia. The ruins of the four settlement sites at Taxila reveal the pattern of urban evolution on the Indian subcontinent through more than five centuries.  One of these sites, the Bhir mound, is associated with the historic event of the triumphant entry of Alexander the Great into Taxila.The archaeological sites of Saraikala, Bhir, Sirkap, and Sirsukh are collectively of unique importance in illustrating the evolution of urban settlement on the Indian subcontinent.
  • Taxila is a World Heritage Site because the ruins of four universally meaningful settlement sites at Taxila (Saraidala, Bhir, Sirkap, and Sirsukh) reveal the pattern of urban evolution on the Indian subcontinent through more than five centuries.  Also, the Bhir mound is associated with the historic event of the triumphant entry of Alexander the Great into Taxila.
• Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore
  • The inscribed property includes two distinct royal complexes, the Lahore Fort and the Shalimar Gardens, both located in the City of Lahore, about 7 km. apart. The two complexes – one characterized by monumental structures and the other by extensive water gardens – are outstanding examples of Mughal artistic expression at its height, as it evolved during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Mughal civilisation, a fusion of Islamic, Persian, Hindu and Mongol sources dominated the Indian subcontinent for several centuries and strongly influenced its subsequent development.
  • The Lahore Fort, situated in the north-west corner of the Walled City of Lahore, occupies a site which has been occupied for several millennia. Assuming its present configuration during the 11th century, the Fort was destroyed and rebuilt several times by the early Mughals during the 13th to the 15th centuries.  The Shalimar Gardens, constructed by Shah Jahan in 1641-2 is a Mughal garden, layering Persian influences over medieval Islamic garden traditions, and bearing witness to the apogee of Mughal artistic expression. The Mughal garden is characterized by enclosing walls, a rectilinear layout of paths and features, and large expanses of flowing water.
    
  • Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore are a World Heritage Site because the 21 monuments preserved within the boundaries of Lahore Fort comprise an outstanding repertory of the forms of Mughal architecture at its artistic and aesthetic height, from the reign of Akbar (1542-1605) through the reign of Shah Jahan (1627-58). Equally, the Shalimar Gardens, laid out by Shah Jahan in 1641-2 embodies Mughal garden design at the apogee of its development. Both complexes together may be understood to constitute a masterpiece of human creative genius.  The Mughal forms, motifs and designs developed at Lahore Fort and Shalimar Gardens have been influenced by design innovations in other royal Mughal enclaves but have also exerted great influence in subsequent centuries on the development of artistic and aesthetic expression throughout the Indian subcontinent.  The design of the monuments of Lahore Fort and the features of the Shalimar Gardens bears a unique and exceptional testimony to the Mughal civilisation at the height of its artistic and aesthetic accomplishments, in the 16th and 17th centuries .
• Historical Monuments at Makli, Thatta
• Rohtas Fort
  • Following his defeat of the Mughal emperor Humayun in 1541, Sher Shah Suri built a strong fortified complex at Rohtas, a strategic site in the north of what is now Pakistan. It was never taken by storm and has survived intact to the present day.  Rohtas Fort, built in the 16th century at a strategic site in the north of Pakistan, Province of Punjab, is an exceptional example of early Muslim military architecture in central and south Asia.  A blend of architectural and artistic traditions from elsewhere in the Islamic world, the fort had a profound influence on the development of architectural style in the Mughal Empire.  The garrison complex was in continuous use until 1707, and then reoccupied under the Durrani and Sikh rulers of the 18th and 19th centuries respectively.
  • The Rohtas Fort is a World Heritage Site because it blends architectural and artistic traditions from Turkey and the Indian subcontinent to create the model for Mughal architecture and its subsequent refinements and adaptations.  It is also an exceptional example of the Muslim military architecture of central and south Asia during the 16th century.