Nigar Khana

Nigar Khana - literally "the house of pictures" or house of art - sits opposite the mausoleum of the Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Rukn-i-Alam in Multan. Visitors descend a flight of steep steps roughly twenty feet below ground into a cross-shaped, domed chamber lit only by the northern entrance and three small dome windows.

The chamber itself is far older than the gallery. It is believed to have been built around 1720 as the Barood Khana - the gunpowder and weapons store - of Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh, likely raised by Sher Afgan, the Naib Nazim of Multan during the reign of Muhammad Shah (1719–1748). It was badly damaged during the British siege of Multan in 1848.

In 1972 the government converted the historic armoury into a handicrafts and souvenir house, and for more than five decades Nigar Khana has been a fixture on Multan's cultural map - mentioned in foreign guidebooks and visited by heads of state, ambassadors and writers from around the world.

“Many artisans contribute here; each masters their own art with a distinctive approach, and that is what draws visitors every day.”

- Abdul Waheed, proprietor of Nigar Khana

The gallery is run by Abdul Waheed, who inherited it from his father, the carpenter and potter Abdul Hameed, and has managed it for around three decades.