LAHORE: The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) is conserving the royal bath dating back to Mughal Emperor Akbar’s reign, discovered at the Lahore Fort in 2019.

The conservation work started in February 2020 and will be complete in February 2022, officials told Dawn.

Popularly known as Akbari Hammam, it was discovered at the Lahore Fort while clearing debris from a neglected section behind the Jahangiri Quadrangle and near the fort’s Akbari Gate. The structure is a mark of the earliest settlement inside the fort established during Akbar’s era and it was excavated after removing around 100,000 cubic feet of debris.

The hammam, one of the oldest structures in the fort, was a part of the Akbari Palace and the later expansions by his successors Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb were made on other sides. Previously, the area was neglected and had been turned into a junkyard where piles of debris and garbage had been dumped.

The red sandstone, kankar lime plaster and layout of the royal bath is similar to the one in Delhi Gate area of the walled city. There are proper water and steam channels inside the bath and the decore is also simple, with its chimneys still intact.

The WCLA officials told Dawn that the conservation work included removal of debris, archeological excavation, surface cleaning, structural consolidation and plinth protection.

The officials say the bath must have been built for the royals only as it is smaller in size as compared to the Shahi Hammam, also known as Wazir Khan Hammam, inside Delhi Gate, and the one in the fort near the sleeping chambers of Shah Jahan, and that a public bath could not be built inside the palace.

Another endorsement that the bath belonged to Akbar’s era is that it is located in the vicinity of the Akbari Gate where Akbari Palace or Sarai (inn) was also situated and its marks could still be seen there.

According to experts, the place must have been damaged during the later Sikh and British eras as the latter built several barracks for soldiers inside the fort and used many Mughal-era structures as soldiers’ residences, a dispensary and offices.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2021