Dr Mehreen Chida highlights architectural jewels of Pakistan in London

ISLAMABAD, Dec 18 (APP): Dr Mehreen Chida Razvi, a Research
Associate at the University of London gave an illustrated talk on
“Architectural Jewels of Pakistan from Sind to the Hunza Valley”
at the Pakistan High Commission London.
The event was jointly organized by The Pakistan Society and the Pakistan’s High Commission, a press release received here Sunday said.
Dr Mehreen Chida Razvi is a Research Associate in the Department of the History of Art at The School of Oriental and African Studies of University of London.
She is also Assistant Editor for the International Journal of Islamic Architecture.
Dr Razvi is a specialist on the art, architecture and material culture of Mughal South Asia and has lectured extensively on Islamic and Indo Islamic Art at SOAS, the Courtauld Institute of Art, the University of Oxford, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
This superbly illustrated talk by Dr Mehreen Chida Razvi was both a celebration and a serious discussion of the extraordinary richness and diversity of the architecture of Pakistan.
Ranging across time from the beginning of the second millennium to the nineteenth century, and spanning the geographic breadth of Pakistan, she explained in details about Pakistan’s greatest architectural gems, focusing specifically on funerary and palatial spaces.
Dr Chida Razvi presented her talk as a series of case studies, describing the architecture and, almost more importantly, explaining the context in which it came into being.
While Pakistan’s predominantly Muslim heritage takes centre stage, she also included buildings and sites created by, and for, other religious groups and peoples, including the Sikhs and Huns.
Dr Razvi encompassed monuments from the fabulous necropolis of
Makli Hill to the grand Muslim mausoleums commemorating a single
saint or ruler, and explored a range of palatial residences from
those built for the Shamanistic rulers in the Hunza Valley to those
of the Sultanates and Mughals.
Among many architectural jewels of Pakistan, Dr Chida Razvi gave a detailed presentation on the architectural and historical aspects of Lahore Fort, Altit and Baltit Forts in Hunza, Sheesh Mahal, and Tomb of Shah Rukn e Alam in Multan.