Chauburji

The Chauburji – literally Four Towers – is a Mughal-era gateway from 1646 in the Pakistani city of Lahore, once marking the entrance to a much larger garden that has since vanished. Probably commissioned by the Mughal princess Zeb-un-Nisa, daughter of Aurangzeb, or her predecessor Mihr-un-Nisa, it is one of the rare surviving examples of Mughal garden architecture, with four domed corner-tower minarets above a central pointed arch. The facade is decorated with floral tilework in turquoise, blue and mustard, partly in the classic kashi-kari style. In the 19th century an earthquake and British colonial road-building damaged the structure heavily. The Chauburji now stands alone on a traffic island, protected by the Pakistan Department of Archaeology.