The seven edifices grouped under the rubric Cross-Culture Edifices of Lahore Fort have existed within a period of about four hundred years. Their civilizational reference begins with the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great (1556 - 1605), who is known for his open-ended investigation and interpretations of belief systems from a multitude of ethnicities, nations and civilizations. The beginning of mercantile colonialism and its use of religious proselytization brought Europe and the ascending empire of the Mughals"in India into a passing and interesting relationship and at least one of the buildings, the Sehdara and its artistic contents seem to be a product of that relationship of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The most recent of the edifices dates to the mid-nineteenth century, likely constructed during the Sikh period – a time marked by its inclusivity and coexistence of diverse religious and cultural communities, including Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Europeans from Italy, France, and England.

The present project titled “Preservation and Promotion of Cross-Culture Edifices of Lahore Fort,” initiated in October 2022 and scheduled for completion in September 2025, has provided an opportunity for a detailed observation of a set of architectural and archaeological artefacts that “bookend” a short stretch of the cross-cultural history of the Fort, ranging from the first half of the sixteenth century onwards. This work, funded by the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), includes seven objects mostly, and with the exception of the Picture Wall, of unimportant size and often ignored. These edifices represent Muslim, Christian, and Hindu/Sikh socio-political and cultural spheres of influence in South Asia. The projects are being implemented by the Aga Khan Cultural Service – Pakistan (AKCS-P), the country affiliate of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), as well as the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), under a public-private partnership.