Badshahi Mosque, Lahore, Pakistan

My last postcard for today is also from a new country to me. I haven't received any postscards from Pakistan before, but now I have one, thanks to Imran.



The Badshahi Mosque or the 'Emperor's Mosque' in Lahore is the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the fifth largest mosque in the world. Epitomising the beauty, passion and grandeur of the Mughal era, it is Lahore's most famous landmark and a major tourist attraction.

Capable of accommodating 10,000 worshippers in its main prayer hall and a further 100,000 in its courtyard and porticoes, it remained the largest mosque in the world from 1673 to 1986 (a period of 313 years), when overtaken in size by the completion of the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. Today, it remains the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the fifth largest mosque in the world after the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) of Mecca, the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) in Medina, the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca and the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.

To appreciate its large size, the four minarets of the Badshahi Mosque are 13.9 ft (4.2 m) taller than those of the Taj Mahal and the main platform of the Taj Mahal can fit inside the (25,899.9 m2) courtyard of the Badshahi Mosque, which is the largest mosque courtyard in the world.



The stamp at the top was issued in 1994 and is from a set of 12 stamps featuring Mohammed Ali Jinnah, while the stamp at the bottom is from a set of 4 stamps issued in 2009, representing the National Year of Environment 2009. This stamp shows the Deodar.