Multan

About Multan

Multan, in the south of Pakistan's Punjab near the Chenab River, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in South Asia, and it is famous as the City of Saints. Its skyline is shaped by the great brick shrines of Sufi masters such as Bahauddin Zakariya and Shah Rukn-e-Alam, whose tomb, built in the 1320s, is one of the masterpieces of early Islamic architecture in the subcontinent.

The city sits on a mound that once held a mighty fort, destroyed by the British in 1849 during the Second Anglo-Sikh War; its site is now the Qasim Bagh park, still crowned by shrines. Around it lies the walled old city, with gates, crowded bazaars and the British-era clock tower. Multan's craftsmen are known for blue glazed tiles and pottery, camel-skin lamps and embroidered khussa shoes.

Summers are among the hottest in Pakistan, so most visitors come in the cooler months. Food lovers should try sohan halwa, the city's famous rich sweet, and mangoes in early summer. The annual urs festivals at the shrines draw huge crowds of pilgrims.