Stepwell(Baoli) at Mehfoozpura

Stepwell(Baoli) at Mehfoozpura 

Relevance: Stepwell

Date of Visit:- 11th  November 2017

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Living all my life in the historical city of Lahore never came to know about the magnificent pavilion and Step well (Baoli) located inside Mehfoozpura Garrison.

There is an interesting story of getting first acquaintance with this architecture. It was early march this year when I was able to come across another Baoli located in a small village of Brahmanabad on the outskirts of Lahore. That was the first Baoli located on the old GT route inside Pakistan. 

The orientation of GT road after Amirstar is not the same as it is nowadays it passes along the Shah Nahar and crosses Manahala. But on that path, Ranjeet Singh has to take a turn for reaching to Amritsar. So, he constructed a road from Amritsar to Lahore fort in a straight direction. A few years back, we visited one of the two last standing KOS Minar (medieval milestones) on the outskirts of Lahore near Manhala village These structures help me to draw the orientation of GT road and I will write a detailed blog in this regard separately.

While searching details about Brahmnabad, I came to know about Baoli inside Mehfoozpura Garrsion mentioned in the book, ‘The Silkroads Highway and Culture’ by Vadime Elisseeff, he describe about the “Baoli of Brahmanabad” &  Mehfoozpura as well.

“From Manhala of Khan-i-Khana, the road used to go to Brahmanabad, where an interesting baoli with a small pavilion is now in very poor state and will soon be filled in if no remedial action is taken. From here, the road goes to Mahfuzpura Cantonment where an elegant baoli with a double-ringed well and and imposing two story domed pavilion has given the site its present name of Baoli Camp. It has been recently repaired by Pakistan army.”

Mahfuzpura Baoli is second Baoli on old GT road in Pakistan