Built from red sandstone with marble inlay, Badshahi Mosque is one of the defining images of Lahore's skyline. Its vast courtyard can hold enormous crowds, framed by four tall minarets and a trio of bulbous white domes. The scale is the first thing visitors notice, but the detail rewards a closer look: carved archways, floral frescoes and a prayer hall that still functions as an active mosque today. Standing beside Lahore Fort, it forms one half of a pairing that has defined the old city's silhouette for centuries and remains a working place of worship as much as a monument.
