Several centuries ago, the banks of the Ravi River saw the founding of the city of Lahore.
The city had a high brick wall built around it with 12 gates and one constrained route, making a total of 13, due to constant invasions, pillaging, and attacks.
The great gates of Lahore, however, were shattered in half. Six still survive, each having a distinct history and some remnants of its former selves.
The real Lahore gates were destroyed during the British rule.
A few gates have been rebuilt, albeit not in their original form.
Seven of the 13 have since disappeared, according to Najum Saqib, Director of Conservation at the Walled City Lahore Authority (WCLA).
Life seems to continue virtually unaltered inside the old city. Many of the streets are too narrow for cars, and every winding lane has a tale to tell about the distinctive culture of the people who live there.
Taxali Gate
Invaders used to enter Lahore from the west, and the Taxali, where the city’s infamous former Red Light District is located, would be the first entrance they would see.
Additionally, this is the location of Lahore’s Gawalmandi, or food street, a popular tourist attraction filled with mouthwatering regional delicacies whose recipes have been handed down through the years.
In the past, Taxali was a wealthy neighbourhood in the city. Famous singers and musicians from the subcontinent lived in the areas inside the gate.
Taxali Gate was destroyed by the British for military purposes, and it was never rebuilt.
Bhatti Gate
The second gate on the western side is this one. The British destroyed the old building and erected a replacement.
Although it continues to be a hive of activity, the locals claim that rising urbanisation has damaged the ancient ways of life inside the old gate.
“Life is different inside Bhatti Gate. There once was a period when everybody was acquainted. People are no longer as open with each other as they once were and are now more secretive about their jobs and personal lives,” according to Mian Ismaeel, 93, a resident of Bhatti Gate.
Mori Gate
Historians never regarded the southern Mori gate as a gate.
Mori gate has never been listed as a gate in a historical work, yet Lahore residents have traditionally regarded it as the 13th gate.
Adil Lahori, the director of the Lahore Heritage Foundation, told TAM that the gate had been completely destroyed and that not even a single sign remained. The location is now home to Lahore’s largest fish market.
Lahori Gate
The original gate built by Emperor Akbar still stands today. It still serves as a major business area and faces Anarkali Bazar.
In the past, the Lahori Gate was home to the glitzy red-light district, where the wealthiest dancers of the city used to live in stunning havelis.
There are still a few abandoned Havelis that are home to several families that have little regard for the historical significance of their residences.
As Europeans started buying indigo here, the region also served as the subcontinent’s first international market.
It served as the largest indigo dye market in the world, with Lahore serving as its primary supplier.
Gate of Shah Alam
The original gate, affectionately referred to as Shahalmi by Lahore’s citizens, was destroyed when the city’s structures and the majority of its citizens were burned to the ground during pre-partition riots in 1946.
It used to be a centre for trade and business and be dominated by Hindus. It reflects the same commercial tradition with one of Asia’s biggest wholesale markets even now.
Ahmad Hassan, a 90-year-old resident of Shahalmi, said that the partially burned Shahalmi Gate was torn down by the Lahore administration in 1957 for reconstruction—a dream that never materialized.
Mochi Gate
Shops inside the Mochi gate provide dry fruit, kites, and pyrotechnics. Famous Shi’ite structures can be found here, tucked away in the centre of the walled city’s maze of busy, narrow lanes, where the Moharram procession starts every year.
In the past, the region inside Mochi gate was used as the city’s “ordinance factory,” producing items including arrows, swords, bows, horse saddles, and javelins.
The British also destroyed Mochi Gate.
Delhi Gate
The famous ‘Delhi Darwaza’ is situated on the eastern side of Lahore’s Walled City and opens in the direction of Delhi in India, the capital of the Mughal dynasty.
The gate has been conserved by authorities and is illuminated at night for tourists.
Yakki Gate
The final gate on the eastern side, where a number of Mughal courtiers lived and where the ruins of their havelis can still be seen. During the British Raj, the gate was destroyed and never rebuilt.
