MULTAN-It is how fascinating for a place itself to turn from an armoury to serve as locals’ and tourists’ aesthetic pleasure destination, promoting distinguished and rare cultural crafts of extra ordinary creativity and genius.
Nigar Kana, located opposite to the mausoleum of great saint Hazrat Shah Rukn-i-Alam, is known as a House of Art for selling handicrafts, exhibits antiquities, cultural and artistic items for over 45 years.
Climbing down the steep stairs of this enchanting locus, one finds oneself into a world of colours consisted of mosaic art, Naqashi, wooden, glass work, blue pottery, jewellery made of camel bone, table lamps, flasks, plaster of Paris decoration pieces and many more.
Abul Waheed, who has been running Nigar Khana after his father Abdul Hameed for the last 30 years says that his father, who was a carpenter by profession, had extra ordinary command of manufacturing innovative flower pots.
Now, many artisans were contributing to it, he said, and everyone of them is master of his art. Their distinctive approach is a source of attraction and inspiration for a large number of daily visitors.
About Camel Skin work, Mr Waheed claimed that Multan was the only city in the world where this unprecedented art survives.
Former president Ziaul Haq, prime ministers - Balakh Sher Mazari, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, former envoys of US, Australia, China, Japan, Argentina and many other countries to Pakistan besides several literary including Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi, Amjad Islam Amjad and Ataul Haq Qasmi had visited Nigar Khana.
(THE NATION)