Bagh-e-Jinnah (Urdu: باغِ جناح, lit. ‘Jinnah Garden’), formerly known as Lawrence Gardens, is a historical park in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. The large green space contains a botanical garden, Masjid Dar-ul-Islam, and Quaid-e-Azam Library.
There are also entertainment and sports facilities within the park: an open-air theater, a restaurant, tennis courts and the Gymkhana Cricket Ground. It is located on Lawrence Road next to Lahore Zoo, directly across from the Governor’s House on The Mall.
History
The site was originally occupied by the Agri-Horticultural Society of the Punjab and had been planned as a botanical garden modelled on Kew Gardens in London. The garden was named after John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence, who served as the first Chief Commissioner and then Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, and who later became Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869.
By 1860, when the first part of Lawrence Gardens had been laid out, the site had become a wilderness, partly used as a menagerie and the rest as a pleasure ground for badminton, archery and cricket. The first tree planted in the garden was in January 1862 and that same year Lawrence Hall was constructed for holding public meetings and theatrical entertainment. In 1866 Montgomery Hall was also completed and in 1868 the site enlarged through the purchase of land to the south of the gardens. By 1876 the garden contained 80,000 trees and shrubs of 600 different species including trees from the plains of India, Austria, Syria, and southern Europe.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lawrence Garden began selling plants it had grown to the general public. Fruit trees were imported from across the British Empire, including grapes and mulberries from Kabul, peaches from Agra, and plantain from Calcutta. In 1904 the Department of Agriculture became responsible for maintenance of the garden and since 1912 approximately seven acres have been managed by Government College University, Lahore.
Following Partition and the creation of Pakistan, Lawrence Gardens was renamed Bagh-e-Jinnah in honour of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. A statue of Lawrence, standing outside the nearby Lahore High Court, was removed in August 1951 and later moved to Foyle and Londonderry College in Northern Ireland. Lawrence and Montgomery Halls were repurposed for the Quaid-e-Azam Library in 1984.