LAHORE MUSEUM

BY
BHAI RAM SINGH
BHAI RAM SINGH(CHIEF ARCHITECT)
Bhai Ram Singh, one of John Lockwood Kipling’s most talented student,
joined the Mayo School of Art in 1875.

The systematic and rigorous training of the School gave Bhai Ram Singh an
opportunity to hone his skills as a carpenter besides developing a deeper
understanding of other arts and architecture.

Most of his initial work was in furniture and interiors but soon he was
involved in design of buildings as well. By 1881 he worked on the design of
the new building for the school and later assisted Kipling in the design of the
Museum as well.

While most of his work, was in Punjab and especially Lahore, his ingenuity
in design, led to two commissions for the interiors of rooms in the royal
houses in England.

FEW OTHER SOURCES ALSO STATED THAT THERE WERE

2 OTHER ARCHITECTS EXCLUDING BHAI RAM SINGH

jOHN LOCKWOOD
KIpLING HE WANTED TO WORK ONTHE
GROWTH OF NATIVE ARCHITEC-
TURE OF LAHORE RATHER THAN
BUILDING THE SAME MUGHAL AR-
CHITECTURE pREVAILING IN HIS
pERIOD.
SIR GANGA RAM
 jOHN LOCKWOOD KIpLING
John Lockwood Kipling was a designer, curator, educator and a catalyst for Arts
and Crafts movement in India.
Kipling began his career as an architectural sculptor at South Kensington Muse-
um14, before moving to India in 1865 as an educationist. He arrived in Lahore in
1875, as the Principal of the newly established Mayo School of Arts and curator
Wof the Lahore Museum.
All contemporary official documents credit Kipling as being the chief designer of the
new building for the school and also the Museum.

Sir Ganga Ram 15 , born in 1851, was an engineer, agriculturalist and a great
philanthropist.
He served as Executive Engineer of the Lahore Division for twelve years, where he
oversaw the design and construction of metaled streets, paved lanes and properly
laid drains besides some of the most monumental colonial buildings in Lahore
Sir Ganga Ram also made inventions to improve construction, like his slide rule for
calculating structural sizes or his design for an anti-thermal flat roof, that were
widely used and were of far reaching importance.It is both for his engineering
services and his philanthropic gifts to the city of Lahore that he is rightly referred to
as the “Father of Modern Lahore”.

SIR GANGA RAM

 WORKS DONE BY THE ARCHITECT AND THE INFLUENCES ONTHEM
Sardar Bahadur Ram Singh prepared designs of several outstanding buildings in India and abroad.

Prominent among these are: ALBERT VICTOR WING

INDIAN DURBAR HALL, LONDON LADY LYALL HOME

AITCHISON CHIEFS COLLEGE LAW COURTS

SENATE HALLS OF THE PANJAB UNIVERSITY MUNICIPAL HALL, FIROZPUR

FOR MAN CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IN LAHORE DISTRICT COURT HALL, ALLAHABAD

LADY AITCHISON HOSPITAL THE VICEREGAL LODGE, SHIMLA THE

GOVERNMENT COLLEGE BOARDING HOUSE KHALSA COLLEGE AT AMRITSAR.

Like any architect in the subcontinent, the issue before them was to look for appropriate architecture for this region.
Apart from the Mughal heritage, the colonial heritage was also a factor in his mind. Since 90 per cent of the Lahore
architecture is colonial, those concerned with this issue focused on Sir Ganga Ram and Bhai Ram Singh.

Ram Singh almost “invented” the modern Sikh architecture a mixture of the traditional Indian and Mughal styles of
which perhaps the best example is the historic building of the Khalsa College, Amritsar.
 THE LAHORE MUSEUM
The origins of a Museum in Lahore can be traced back to a March 1855 circular issued
by the Financial Commissioner of Punjab, proposing the establishment of museums at
district level “with a view to tracing the development of the resources of the country
and improvements in agriculture, machinery and the arts”.
As a consequence, Lahore’s first museum named “Lahore Central Museum” was
established in 1856.

In 1864 Lahore Central Museum, coined by the people as ‘Ajayabghar’ or the

“house of wonders”, was relocated to the Exhibition Hall9, built earlier in the year for
holding the Punjab Exhibition of Arts and Industry of 1864

After the exhibition closed, the Exhibition Hall, which had been built as
a temporary structure was given a more permanent roof and floor and the Museum
collection was moved in.
ARCHITECTURAL
DRAWINGS
The museum was entered from the north, through the Entrance
Portico which leads into the Entrance Vestibule “directly under the
dome”.

The plan only shows areas accessible to the general public. It

does not show the Hall for the Technical Institute, Two Rooms
and an Office located at the Western end of the Museum.

The building was closed off to public in 1965 for two years, to
carry out repairs and also for the construction of new works.

The new additions included a laboratory, workshop ,

mosque and several servant quarters, all built at the southern
end of the building.

Furthermore, in 1969 a new gallery was added and the empty

space between the Museum and NCA13, on the western side,
was converted into stores for the reservecollection.

Though the addidtions have been adding into the

building, I think there are spaces which arent connecting
to a double storey building located in the south.
ARCHITECTURAL
DRAWINGS
The Lahore Museum building built entirely in exposed
red brick and designed in the “Indo-Saracenic” style is
con- glomerate of volumes of various sizes resulting in a
large singular volume that is subdivided internally and is
accessible through multiple entrances.

VISITORS
ADMIN./
STAFF
The volumes when viewed from the north are composed in a near-
ly symmetrical arrangement .The features of Northern façade are
linked to the volumes of the building.

The 114 m (374 ft.) long Northern Façade primarily defines

the Museum’s exterior and together with NCA forms a
continuous elevation along the entire length of the city block.

The facade of the museum is made of marble which is evidently

used in mughal architecture and this shows that the mughal
architecture is also taken into consideration which also might
depict royality in the facade.
WHAT DO I THINK
I THINK THIS MUSEUM IS A WELL POTRAYED MASTERPIECE
OF BHAI RAM SINGH’S BRILLIANCE IN ARCHITECTURE AND
HIS MASTERY IN CRAFTS.

THE INTEGRITY OF INTENTION IN THIS DESIGN AND THE

SENSITIVITY OF WORKING OUT OF VOLUMETRIC PROPOR-
TIONS, DISPLAY OF TEXTURES AND RHYTHM WITH MASTERY
DETAILS IN THE CONSTRUCTION CAN BE SEEN VERY CLEARLY.

I THINK HIS MASTERY IN WOOD CARVING HELPED HIM IN

THE EXECUTION AND THE EXPRESSON OF THE BUILDING.

I THINK THIS BUILDING IS A FINE PIECE OF SIKH ARCHITEC-

TURE .

THOUGH BEING A GOOD BUILDING IN ITS TIME ,THERE ARE A

FEW PROBLEMS LIKE HAVING HAPHAZARD OPENINGS IN THE
EAST FACADE,HAVING A CHAOTIC ARRANGEMENT OF VOL-
UMES IN SOUTHERN FACADE,ETC.

FINALLY, I REGARD BHAI RAM SINGH TO BE THE GREATEST

INDIAN ARCHITECT OF THE BRITISH RAJ PERIOD AND DEFI-
NITELY AN UNRIVALLED ONE IN THE SIKH ARCHITECTURE.
MUNAGALAKUSHALSAIKUMAR ROLL
NO -28
SPADELHI