Top Tourist Sites
Punjab - Archaeological Sites
HARAPPA – Earliest Discovered Indus Valley Town
Harappa is an important archaeological site about 210 km south of Lahore. Harappa is the only found site of Indus Valley Civilization that flourished from 3500 BC to 1500 BC. The site shows traces of a well-settled area living systematically with sanitary standards at that time. The place takes its name from a modern(new) village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is 6-km from the ancient site.
The old city of Harappa was accidentally discovered during British rule in the early-19th century during the Lahore Multan Railway construction. At the site entrance, Harappa Museum displays exceptional excavated things from the site.
TAXILA – Once a Great Centre of Buddhist Civilization
Taxila/Takshashila (City of Cut Stone/Takṣa Rock) is one of the subcontinent’s treasures and was once an important city of the area of Gandhara. The ruins of Taxila are located about 35 km north of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, just off the popular Grand Trunk Road. Taxila was an important Buddhist city from the 5th century BC to the 6th Century AD. Ancient Taxila was located at the pivotal junction of South Asia and Central Asia.
The renowned scientist Sir Alexander Cunningham rediscovered the ruins of Taxila in the mid 19th century. In 1980, Taxila declared a UNESCO World Heritage place. In 2006 it was ranked as the best tourist place in Pakistan by The Guardian paper.
Taxila was supposed to be amongst the world’s most advanced Buddhist universities. Other notable sites here are Bhir Mound, Dharmarajika Stupa, Sikap and Sirsukh cities, Shrine of double-headed Eagle, Jandial Temple, Julian Buddhist Monastery.
Taxila Museum is famous for its great collection of Gandharan Art, a blend of Greek and Buddhist art, and houses a rare collection of tools, jewelry, toys, and pottery highlighting the everyday life of the citizens of ancient Taxila.
