Masjid Wazir Khan is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Lahore and was built by Hakim Aliuddin, the famous Subehdar of Punjab in the year 1634. Granted the title of Wazir Khan in the year 1620, he was raised to the tiltle of mansab during the reign of Shah Jahan. It is the same Wazir Khan, who was entrusted with the building of the Khwabgah and Hammam-e-Badshahi in Lahore. Masjid Wazir Khan is the most famous mosque in Lahore and is located about a furlong from the Delhi gate and off the Kashmiri bazaar.
The Masjid Wazir Khan is situated on a raised platform and can be reached by a flight of steps to the east. The imposing east doorway with its decorative muqarnas semi-domical roof, flanked by decorative oriel-like projecting balconies on the upper level beckons you into its octagonal vestibule. The six steps in this wide passage lead to a platform under the front niche of this gat. Another step leads to the centre of a covered octagonal court, the central domed position of this gate. This central roofed area of the mosque is connected by steps on all four sides.
To the north and south of the great octagonal forecourt of the mosque, stretch out the double rows galleries. Each chamber has a sixteen feet wide passage in between. This part of the mosque, known as the forecourt, was an original innovation in the evolution of the mosque plan. The central octagonal court also has double rooms in each of its four corners. These rooms are probably reserved for the gatekeepers of the mosque. This arrangement is repeated on the upper storey of this position. The northern and the southern sides of the main court of the mosque have eleven rooms each. There is a library in the mosque which indicates that apart from serving as a place of worship, Masjid Wazir Khan also served as a college.
There is an enormous sunlit courtyard, 160' x 130', presenting a splendid piece of architecture. This oasis of beauty, elegance and calm shall overpower you as you stand in the mosque courtyard, framed by the praying chamber on the west. There is a khanas or study cloisters for religious scholars on the north and south, and the deorhi with entrance cubicles on the east. The whole building presents a dazzling view of tile-mosaic and frescoes.
In the basement of the courtyard of the Masjid Wazir Khan is situated the shrine of the saint Syed Muhammad Ishaq Gazruni.
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