Place · national monument & museum · Pakistan
Pakistan Monument, Islamabad
Also known as Yādgār-e-Pākistān, Yadgar-e-Pakistan, National Monument of Pakistan
The Pakistan Monument on the Shakarparian hills of Islamabad is a national monument inaugurated on 23 March 2007 to a design by Arif Masoud, chosen in a 2003 competition. Its granite petals take their form from the Mughal muqarnas: four large ones for the Punjabi, Baloch, Sindhi and Pashtun cultures and three smaller ones for minorities, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Murals inside show Lahore Fort, the Badshahi Mosque and the Minar-e-Pakistan, and a museum tells the story of Pakistan's creation.
- Date
- 2004–2007
- Function
- Other / mixed
- Material
- granite
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 33.693, 73.068
Worth knowing
The architect inscribed his name on one plaque but pressed the handprints of the construction workers along the walls flanking the Freedom Plaza, and from the air the plan reads as the star and crescent of the flag.
About the place
Placed at the Wikidata coordinates for the monument.
The large petals are popularly read as the four provinces; the design describes them as the four principal cultures.
Connections (2)
- Site withinIslamabad
The Pakistan Monument stands on the western part of the Shakarparian hills in Islamabad, near the Zero Point interchange, in parkland created for the new capital in 1960–61 after Gakhar settlers were relocated. Its height makes it visible across the Islamabad–Rawalpindi area, and a viewing platform at the end of its Freedom Plaza gives a bird's-eye view of the city. The Shakarparian parade ground hosts the Pakistan Day parade every 23 March, the date on which the monument was inaugurated in 2007.
- Associated withMuhammad Ali Jinnah
The Pakistan Monument, inaugurated on 23 March 2007, was designed to symbolise the unity of the Pakistani people, and its central platform carries the star and crescent of the flag. The stainless-steel crescent is inscribed with sayings of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and of Allama Iqbal, the inner walls of the petals depict figures of the independence movement, and the museum beside the monument narrates the story of the creation of Pakistan, the movement Jinnah led as Quaid-e-Azam.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Pakistan Monument", "Shakarparian".
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