Lahore undoubtedly is the most interesting city in Pakistan. It has the excellent Lahore museum, the Badshahi mosque, the narrow bustling streets of Old Lahore, and even two more Tentative Sites within its city borders. What has been inscribed though are the Mughal-era Fort and Shalamar Gardens.

The Fort and Gardens lie some 8 km apart and I visited them on two separate days in December 2023. Lahore Fort is situated within a large complex of monumental buildings. 'Hidden' behind an entrance gate and with a large parking lot are an important Sikh shrine (which I only saw from the outside, but it attracts many Indian Sikh pilgrims), the Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort.

The Badshahi Mosque wins the battle for where to look first: the enormous but perfectly symmetrical red sandstone building faces what was the main entrance to the fort, the Alamgiri Gate with its white, fluted towers. The fort entrance nowadays is via security gates around the corner, where you also have to pay the 500 rupees (1.50 EUR) fee. A short walk then leads to the gates to the inner structure with the recently restored Picture Wall, a stretch of wall fully covered with glazed tiles depicting scenes with elephants and such. This is the part of the entire fort that is in the best condition, though it is a bit hard to admire as you are separated from it by a wide moat.

The inner courtyard has an endless series of small palaces and outbuildings, built by various Mughal leaders such as Emperor Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Several of them are in a Persian style. The most beautiful of those is the Palace of Mirrors – it’s a fairly small white marble building where much use has been made in the interior of a decorative style called Āina-kāri, where finely cut mirrors are assembled to form patterns. Many of the others are empty (‘repurposed’ or robbed by various later users of the fort) and sometimes covered in graffiti. It seems not such a big effort to at least remove the latter, but somehow it feels that the Pakistani authorities responsible have given up on the task that awaits here.

The setting of the Shalamar Gardens is still within the densely populated city of Lahore. The entrance fee here is also 500 rupees, just like at the other WHS in Punjab. They even have a large billboard at the entrance displaying the UNESCO WH logo. You first have to turn a corner to see the gardens, but then you can admire their creative Mughal construction. The focus is on water, with fountains and ponds. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any water in here for a while, although my guide said that it is turned on on special occasions.

Only in the central area can you see nowadays how it was all intended to look: a terraced series of pools, alternated by small pavilions and flowerbeds. Shah Jahan had this built to entertain his guests or, as others say, for his wife (the one who was later buried in the Taj Mahal). The complex is in reasonably good condition, at least a lot better than the Fort.