Shukurallah Baig from Hunza recently oversaw the restoration of the Chowk Wazir Khan, an urban square measuring 1,000 square meters, which lies adjacent to the Wazir Khan Mosque in the Walled City of Lahore, Pakistan. It is one of the prominent architectural features that marks the historical landscape of Lahore city. The restoration of this historical cultural space was undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Pakistan (AKTC), in conjunction with the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), and was funded by the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation. The rehabilitation and conservation effort of Chowk Wazir Khan began on 1st October 2015 and the newly restored Chowk opened in March 2017 for the public.
AKTC efforts to refurbish the Chowk were made with the intention to reclaim the urban space by restoring the Chowk to its original form. This involved excavating and restoring the eastern frontage and hujras of the Wazir Khan Mosque, conserving two historic houses and detaching newly constructed elements adjoining the mosque, and revamp the Dina Nath Well in order to open space for the benefit of the community.
Chowk Wazir Khan and the Wazir Khan Mosque are historic monuments situated amidst the hustling inner city of Lahore. Although the mosque has kept its pragmatic use as a prayer space, it has been largely neglected as a heritage site. Due to the inattention rendered to these cultural symbols, these elements became derelict with a growing dire need of rehabilitation.
The restoration of the Chowk Wazir Khan and its adjoining areas was an arduous task that required a lot of deliberation and meticulous planning. The eastern façade, including its hujras, was partly buried under eight feet of risen street level, along with the underlying Chowk itself. First a retaining wall had to be built after the removal of illegal commercial ventures intruding upon the urban space, in order to prevent such future encroachments. Once the wall was in place, the excavation was commenced, and continued until the foundation of the Chowk was revealed and the eastern façade was exposed. This, in addition to the removal of utility lines overhead, gave the mosque an opportunity to start displaying its original grandeur.
In recent years the Chowk Wazir Khan was haphazardly flooded by the encroachments of makeshift commercial outlets. The open space was swamped with retail shacks, bound by corrugated steel, and flocked by local citizens utilizing it as a market. The area was plagued with illegal retail outlets and enchroacments for a very long time. With steel shutters festooned with gaudy advertisements, both the spatial and aesthetic characteristics of the Chowk were severely compromised. As a result, the Shahi Guzargah,a key thoroughfare of the old walled city of Lahore, had lost its only area of respite amidst the narrow trail full of commuters in quick transit. The lack of this space, which was created specifically for the purpose of introducing a sense of openness to the surroundings, reduced the impact of Shahi Guzargah.
Essentially a town square, Chowk Wazir Khan was important in bringing forth the communal aspects of the locality. It was a designated space for the performance of religious poetry consisting of rhyming couplets originating from the Arabic and Persian tradition - though it is difficult to imagine such a thing being held in an environment crowded by vendors loudly touting their merchandises. Part of such a space’s appeal was its multipurpose nature, capable of hosting a variety of organised events. Traditionally, melas (fairs) would occasionally be held in the locale, where people from the surrounding residences could mingle with those from the broader city, while glancing over the varieties of crafts and artworks on sale.
The conservation work of Chowk Wazir Khan involved identifying more contemporary elements that had been added to the edifice, such as cement plaster fixes to the hujras, and carefully extracting them in order to reveal the original building. Certain elements, such as the glazed tile architectural decorations on the eastern façade were mostly in good condition, and simply required a cleaning procedure. The rehabilitation effort required the team to consolidate elements of the building, which were in a considerable state of disrepair using methods sensitive to the aesthetic effect of the original design. Structural repairs were extended to many of the hujras, while traditional sheesham doors and brick tile flooring was added to the chambers.
The clearing out of the Chowk and its restoration to something more closely resembling its original form will present locals and visitors both with an open vista where they can stop and fully take in the splendour of the surrounding monuments. The Shahi Guzargah will now suit the slower-paced attitude of the casual visitor who might want to visit jewels from the Mughal era, such as the Shahi Hammam, in a more leisurely way. As such, the rehabilitation of this public space is a momentous occasion, signifying a milestone in the resurgence of the Shahi Guzargah and the wider context of the Walled City, as a focal point in the itinerary of tourists and locals keen to get a more intimate feel for this historic city.
