Naulakha Pavilion

The Naulakha Pavilion is the small white-marble pavilion on the upper terrace of Lahore Fort, distinguished by the curved bangla roof — a Mughal adaptation of a Bengali peasant-house form, executed in marble. It was built by Shah Jahan in 1633 as a private prayer-and-rest pavilion within his personal apartments.

The marble is inlaid with pietra-dura semiprecious stones — lapis, jasper, agate — in a delicate floral pattern, some of the finest such work in Pakistan. Access is via the Sheesh Mahal route through the women's quarters. Worth a careful look at the inlay work, which is best seen in raking afternoon light.

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A story
The pavilion takes its name — meaning 'nine lakhs' or 900,000 rupees — from the eye-watering sum Shah Jahan reportedly spent on its construction in 1633. The bulbous curved roof, modelled on Bengali peasant huts, was one of the more eccentric architectural borrowings of the Mughals — it became known as the *bangla* style and was widely imitated.