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Mazar-e-Quaid (Jinnah Mausoleum)

Mazar-e-Quaid (Jinnah Mausoleum)

Yahya Merchant

Photo: A.Savin · FAL · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Karachi, Pakistan
Client / Owner
Quaid-e-Azam Memorial Fund
Year
Completed 1971
Access
Public
Typology
Cultural

Mazar-e-Quaid is the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in central Karachi. A 1957 competition was first won by William Whitfield, but Fatima Jinnah effectively vetoed his plan. Yahya Merchant, a Bombay architect and friend of Jinnah, was then chosen. President Ayub Khan laid the foundation stone on July 31, 1960, and Yahya Khan inaugurated it on January 18, 1971.

The article calls the design traditional with a minor modernist influence. The white marble cube measures 246 feet (75 m) on each side and rises 141 feet (43 m) on a platform, with a dome, curved arches and copper lattice. Fifteen fountains lead up to it, and a chandelier was a gift from China.

Jinnah, Fatima Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan, Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan, Abdur Rab Nishtar and Nurul Amin are interred there. Official ceremonies are held on four national days.

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