The Samadhi of Ranjit Singh is the mausoleum of the Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It is located near the Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. Construction was started by his son, Kharak Singh on the spot where he was cremated, and was completed by his youngest son, Duleep Singh in 1848.
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The tomb exemplifies Sikh architecture, it is gilded fluted domes and cupolas and an ornate balustrade round the top. Ranjit Singh's ashes are contained in a marble urn in the shape of a lotus, sheltered under a marble pavilion inlaid with pietra dura, in the centre of the tomb.
Two small monuments to the west of the main mausoleum commemorate Ranjit Singh's son Maharaja Kharak Singh and grandson Nau Nihal Singh, and their wives.
The funerary urns were removed from the marble pavilion and were replaced by a simple slab around 1999. This desecration of the mausoleum was part of the preparations for the Khalsa Tricentenary and the visit of Sikh dignitaries from India. The Samadhi was damaged by the earthquake in October 2005.
In May 2006, following concerns about the state of the samadhi, the Indian Minister for Tourism and Culture, Ambika Soni wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and expressed her concerns.[1]
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