Sacred places in Pakistan: temples, churches, shrines and mosques

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Islam · Punjab · 1671 tới 1673Badshahi MosqueBadshahi Masjid, بادشاہی مسجد, Imperial Mosque, Thánh đường Hoàng đế, Badshahi Mosque Lahore

A grand Mughal-era congregational mosque in Lahore, commissioned by Emperor Aurangzeb and built between May 1671 and April 1673 in red sandstone inlaid with white marble, crowned by three bulbous marble domes and four corner minarets. Its vast open courtyard of nearly 25,900 square meters is among the largest mosque courtyards in the world, and the monument was placed on Pakistan's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 1993.

UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List (1993)Phía tây bắc Walled City, cạnh Hoàng thành Lahore (Lahore Fort) và vườn Hazuri Bagh, Lahore, Punjab

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Photo: Harvinder Chandigarh, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Sikhism · Narowal District, Punjab Province · Đức Guru Nanak Dev Ji sáng lập thị trấn và cộng đoàn Kartarpur năm 1504 và định cư liên tục từ năm 1522 tới ngày viên tịch 22 tháng 9 năm 1539; kiến trúc đền chính màu trắng tái thiết năm 1925 dưới sự tài trợ của Quốc vương Maharaja Bhupinder Singh xứ Patiala; đại mở rộng thành quần thể 42 mẫu Anh và khánh thành Hành lang Kartarpur miễn thị thực ngày 9 tháng 11 năm 2019 nhân dịp kỷ niệm 550 năm ngày đản sinh Đức Guru NanakGurdwara Darbar Sahib KartarpurGurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib, Kartarpur Corridor Shrine, Sanctuary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji at Kartarpur

One of the holiest sanctuaries of Sikhism situated on the right bank of the Ravi River in Narowal District, Punjab, Pakistan, just 4.5 kilometers from the Indian border, where Guru Nanak Dev Ji founded the first Sikh commune, instituted the Langar community kitchen, and spent the final eighteen years of his life until his passing on September 22, 1539, renowned for its 1925 white marble shrine housing both his Hindu samadhi and Muslim mazar within a 42-acre marble courtyard linked to India via the visa-free Kartarpur Corridor inaugurated in November 2019.

Foundational First Commune Sanctuary of Sikhism (final residence and resting place of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, 1522 to 1539), World's Largest Gurdwara Courtyard Complex (42 acres), and Terminus of the International Visa-Free Kartarpur Peace Corridor (2019)Kartarpur Village, Shakargarh Tehsil, right bank of the Ravi River, Narowal District, Punjab Province, Islamic Republic of Pakistan

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Photo: Shahzaib Damn Cruze, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Hinduism · Chakwal District, Punjab Province · Nền móng tháp Phật giáo thời Hoàng đế Ashoka thế kỷ 3 trước Công nguyên (được đại sư Huyền Trang ghi chép thế kỷ 7); cụm đền đá Satghara xây dựng từ thế kỷ 7 tới thế kỷ 10 Công nguyên dưới triều đại Hindu Shahi theo phong cách kiến trúc Kashmir; bổ sung dinh thự Hari Singh Nalwa thế kỷ 19 thời Đế chế Sikh; đại trùng tu từ năm 2006 tới năm 2018Katas Raj TemplesQila Katas, Shri Katas Raj Mandir Complex, Satghara Temples, Sacred Pond of Lord Shiva's Tears in the Salt Range

A revered complex of ancient Hindu temples set in the Salt Range of Chakwal District, Punjab, Pakistan, ringing the sacred spring-fed pond of Katas Kund (believed in Puranic tradition to have formed from Lord Shiva's tears of grief for Sati and identified in the Mahabharata as the lake of the Yaksha Prashna riddles during the Pandavas' exile), featuring the seventh-to-tenth-century Kashmiri-style Satghara temples of the Hindu Shahi dynasty alongside an Ashokan Buddhist stupa base and the nineteenth-century haveli of Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa.

Protected National Archaeological Monument and Major Hindu Pilgrimage Sanctuary of Pakistan (inscribed on Pakistan's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List since 2004, ref. 1877)Near Choa Saidanshah, Potohar Plateau and Salt Range (Koh-i-Namak), Chakwal District, Punjab Province, Islamic Republic of Pakistan

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Photo: Shahzaib Damn Cruze, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Buddhism · Mardan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province · Khởi lập đầu thế kỷ 1 Công nguyên (bia ký của Quốc vương Ấn - Parthia Gondophares niên hiệu năm 46 Công nguyên); phát triển cực thịnh từ thế kỷ 2 tới thế kỷ 4 dưới triều đại Kushan (Quý Sương, thời Hoàng đế Kanishka I); duy trì sinh hoạt tu học tới thế kỷ 7 Công nguyên; phát hiện năm 1836 và khai quật khảo cổ học hệ thống từ năm 1907 tới năm 1913 bởi D. B. Spooner và Harold HargreavesBuddhist Ruins of Takht-i-BahiTakht-i-Bahi Sangharama, Throne of the Water Spring, Buddhist Ruins of Takht-i-Bahi and Sahr-i-Bahlol, Gandhara Buddhist Monastery of Mardan

The most complete and best-preserved Buddhist monastic complex (Sangharama) of ancient Gandhara, perched atop a 152-meter rocky crest in Mardan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan (inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980), founded in the first century CE under Indo-Parthian and Kushan patronage and occupied until the seventh century, renowned for its diaper-masonry schist architecture encompassing the Court of Stupas, two-story monastic cells, Main Stupa precinct, and subterranean Tantric meditation chambers.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 1980 jointly with the Neighbouring City Remains at Sahr-i-Bahlol, ref. 140) and Protected National Archaeological Monument of PakistanTakht-i-Bahi Hilltop Ridge, 15 km northwest of Mardan City, Mardan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Islamic Republic of Pakistan

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Photo: Junaid8181, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Islam · Thatta District, Sindh Province · Khởi công năm 1644 và hoàn thành phần chính năm 1647 dưới sắc lệnh và ngân khố của Hoàng đế Mughal thứ năm là Shah Jahan để tri ân nhân dân thành Thatta; hoàn thiện dãy hành lang và cổng phía đông năm 1658 tới 1659 dưới thời Hoàng đế Aurangzeb; trùng tu cảnh quan vườn Mughal những năm 1960 và 1970Shah Jahan Mosque, ThattaJamia Masjid of Thatta, Badshahi Masjid Thatta, Mosque of Ninety-Three Domes in Historic Thatta

A masterpiece of Mughal and Sindhi-Timurid Islamic architecture in the historic capital of Thatta, Sindh Province, Pakistan, commissioned between 1644 and 1647 by Emperor Shah Jahan in gratitude to the townspeople who sheltered him as Prince Khurram, celebrated for its record 93 red-brick domes engineered for natural acoustic resonance without amplification, its complete absence of minarets, and the most extensive display of cobalt-blue and turquoise glazed Kashi-kari tilework in the Indian subcontinent.

Protected National Historical Monument of Pakistan (inscribed on Pakistan's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List since 1993, ref. 1286)National Highway N-5, Historic City Center of Thatta, Thatta District, Sindh Province, Islamic Republic of Pakistan

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Photo: TANK RAIDER, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

IIHelp Us Build This

This library is open and free, and it records its own progress in public. Three things you can help with today:

Name a place we missedA founding temple, a church, a mosque, a shrine the table above does not have. Send the name, the province, and one line on why it belongs.
Send a photograph with an open licenceNothing is published without both the photographer and the licence. Your own photograph with your permission, or an openly licensed one, are both welcome.
Report an errorA wrong date, a wrong original name, a wrong lineage, a wrong address. A library that is wrong once is not trusted again, so corrections are very welcome.

Write to thayungkhiem@gmail.com

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24/10/2026Completed three major initiatives on the same day: (1) Verified primary international sources and published the remaining 199 full English editions across 192 countries and territories, officially completing Stage D with 100% bilingual Vietnamese and English coverage across the entire library. (2) Visually verified and published 35 openly licensed Wikimedia Commons photographs for 22 sites in Vietnam and 13 international sanctuaries. (3) Authored 100 new bilingual sacred place monographs with real photographs for Stage C across 25 countries and territories (South Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Canada and Mexico), expanding each from 1 to 5 places and bringing the library to 761 sacred places.
29/09/2026Officially opened the doors of Hall of Myriad Paths to readers worldwide as a living spiritual library that grows every day. On the same day, authored 60 new Stage A sacred place monographs across 60 countries in the Nordic and Baltic regions, the Balkans, the Gulf, Central Asia, European microstates, Africa, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean (including Roskilde Cathedral, Hallgrímskirkja, the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius, Ostrog Monastery, Malé Friday Mosque, Sulayman-Too, Old Orhei, the Temple in the Sea and Ambohimanga), while verifying and publishing 59 openly licensed photographs for the second and third batches.
28/09/2026In the Main Hall, transformed 174 sacred symbols of faiths and branches into raised 3D forms so visitors can select their own tradition before making an offering, alongside a public record of milestones. In the Places section, authored 30 new Stage A monographs across 30 countries in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America (including St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Rila Monastery, Svetitskhoveli, Etchmiadzin, al-Qarawiyyin, the Great Mosque of Djenné, Namugongo and the Basilica of Luján).

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?Quick Questions

Why are there no opening hours or ticket prices

Because they change constantly. A library that is wrong once about a practical detail loses its standing on everything else. Check with the place itself before you travel.

Where do the images come from

From Wikimedia Commons under open licences, each credited to its photographer, or photographed by UK MASTER ACADEMY. No image is published without both its author and its licence.

How were these places chosen

Four tests: it is officially listed as a heritage site, it belongs to a tradition this library covers, its site and orientation can be read in feng shui terms, and an openly licensed photograph exists.

Why is my country still grey

The library opens one country at a time, beginning with the countries that have the most readers, and within each country with its most significant places. A grey country is simply one whose turn has not come. Suggestions are welcome through the page of Master Ưng Khiêm.

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