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Nasreddin Murat-Khan

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Nasreddin Murat-Khan
Насреддин Муратханов (Russian)
نصر الدین مراد خان (Urdu)
Nasruddin Muratxan (Kumyk)
Murat-Khan's portrait
Murat-Khan in 1962
Born1904 (1904)
Died15 October 1970 (aged 65–66)
Resting placeNew Elahi Park, Misri Shah Cemetery, Lahore
31°35′9″N 74°19′58″E / 31.58583°N 74.33278°E / 31.58583; 74.33278
NationalityRussian (1907–1950)
Pakistani (1950–1970)
EducationCivil engineering
Architecture
Notable workMinar-e-Pakistan
Gaddafi Stadium
Spouse
Hamida Akmut
(m. 1944⁠–⁠1970)
ChildrenPari Murat-Khan, Zeynab Ozbek, Maryam Murat-Khan, Mesme Tomason, Meral Murat-Khan (daughters)
Awards Tamgha-e-Imtiaz
(1963)

Nasreddin Murat-Khan[a] TI (1904 – 15 October 1970) was a Russian-born Pakistani architect and civil engineer. He is renowned for designing the iconic national monument, the Minar-e-Pakistan.[1][2][3] He was also the architect of the Gaddafi Stadium and several other notable buildings and structures.

Life

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Early life

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Murat-Khan was born in 1904 to a Turkic Kumyk Muslim family, in the town of Buynaksk[4] in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan located in the Russian Empire (modern-day Russian Federation).[5][6] In 1930, he obtained his degree of civil engineering from the Institute of Architects, Town Planners and Civil Engineers at Leningrad State University (now the Saint-Petersburg State University).[7][8] Later, he also obtained degrees of architecture and town planning from the same university.[9]

Exile

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Murat-Khan was keen to free the Muslim Caucasus region from Soviet control.[10] As a result, he had to flee from Dagestan— in fear of his life—to Germany where he landed sometime in 1944.[11] He stayed as a refugee in one of the camps established by the UNRRA in Berlin, later moving to Mittenwald where[12] he married Hamida Akmut, a Turkish refugee, in 1946.[13]

Pakistan

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After the six-year-long exile in West Germany, Murat-Khan migrated with his family to Pakistan, in 1950.[14]

Death

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Murat-Khan died of a heart attack on 15 October 1970.[15][16]

Professional career

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In 1930, Nasreddin held a variety of posts in Dagestan and in Leningrad.[17] He was arrested during the "Engineers' Purges" undertaken by Stalin, but was re-instated in February 1940 as Chief Engineer and Chief Architect of the Pyatigorsk branch of the North Caucasian Project Trust.[18] He later served as Chief Engineer and Director of the North Caucasian Project Trust in Woroschilowsk, Ukraine, till August 1942.[19] Murat-Khan planned and designed many buildings of the Soviet Union, which includes a Lenin Memorial.[20] In 1950, after his migration to Pakistan, he was hired as Executive Engineer for PWD at Wah Ordinance Factory. He then was reassigned in 1951 as Special Architect, B&R Deptt., PWD, where he designed the buildings of the Nishtar Hospital and the Nishtar Medical College.[21] In addition, he also prepared the designs of the Mansehra Mental Hospital, the Sahala Police Training College, the Sinclair Hall in Forman Christian College,[22][23] the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore (completed in 1959 and initially called the Lahore Stadium) and the Textile College in Faisalabad among many other buildings, townships, residences and other structures.[24]

Minar-e-Pakistan

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Minar-e-Pakistan, Murat-Khan's masterpiece

Murat-Khan's most notable and memorable work is his design of the Minar-e-Pakistan monument, located at Minto Park (now Iqbal Park) in the walled city of Lahore.[25][26] The foundation stone of Minar-e-Pakistan was laid at Minto Park on 23 March 1960. In 1963, President Ayub Khan reportedly summoned Murat-Khan to his office and took out a fountain pen from his pocket, placed it upright on his desk and instructed Murat-Khan to "build me a monument like this."[27]

Murat-Khan was very keen on the supervision of the construction and the design.[28][29] He frequently visited the site to inspect building material, construction quality.[30] He did not take his prescribed fee of Rs. 250,000 and instead donated the amount to the fund created for financing the construction of the Minar-e-Pakistan.[31] The construction of the tower took eight years and by 31 October 1968, the minar was completed at a cost of Rs. 7.5 million.[32][33]

Awards

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In recognition of Murat-Khan's services, the then President of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan, conferred on him the Tamghah-yi Imtiyaz (Medal of Excellence) in 1963.[34][35][36]

Views and legacy

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Murat-Khan was of the view that each local body should have a chief architect of its own.[37] He was also a proponent of Islamic architecture, advocating the retention of a national character in Pakistani architecture.[38]

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Kumyk: Nasruddin Muratxan; Ottoman Turkish: نصر الدین مراد خان ِALA-LC: Naṣru l-dîn Murâd-ḫân; Turkish: Nasreddin Murat-han IPA: [nasɾedˈdin muˈɾathan]; Russian: Насреддин Муратханов ALA-LC: Nasreddin Muratkhanov IPA: [nəsrʲɪˈdʲin mʊrɐtˈxanəf]; Urdu: نصر الدین مراد خان ِALA-LC: Naṣru l-dīn Murād Ḵẖān IPA: [nəsrʊd̪ˈd̪iːn mʊˈrɑːt̪xɑːn]

References

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  1. ^ Jafari 2010
  2. ^ Dawn 2009
  3. ^ Nai Baat 2013
  4. ^ "Nasreddin Murat-Khan (1904-1970) - Google Arts & Culture". Google Cultural Institute. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  5. ^ Jafari 2010
  6. ^ Nai Baat 2013
  7. ^ Biographical Encyclopedia of Pakistan 1970
  8. ^ Dawn 2009
  9. ^ Jafari 2010
  10. ^ Dawn 2009
  11. ^ Jafari 2010
  12. ^ Dawn 2009
  13. ^ Jafari 2010
  14. ^ Jafari 2010
  15. ^ Jafari 2010
  16. ^ Dawn 2009
  17. ^ Dawn 2009
  18. ^ Dawn 2009
  19. ^ Dawn 2009
  20. ^ Jafari 2010
  21. ^ Jafari 2010
  22. ^ F.C. College 2014
  23. ^ The Nation 2014
  24. ^ Jafari 2010
  25. ^ Jafari 2010
  26. ^ Samiuddin 2014
  27. ^ Express Tribune 2014
  28. ^ Jafari 2010
  29. ^ Dawn 2009
  30. ^ Dawn 2009
  31. ^ Jafari 2010
  32. ^ Express Tribune 2014
  33. ^ The Friday Times 2015
  34. ^ Biographical Encyclopedia of Pakistan 1970
  35. ^ Jafari 2010
  36. ^ Dawn 2009
  37. ^ Artasia 1965
  38. ^ Biographical Encyclopedia of Pakistan 1970

Bibliography

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