A mini replica of Karachi’s famous ‘teen (3) talwar‘ monument has emerged in Mirpur Khas. In the photo below Karachi’s three-sword landmark is to the left and Mirpur Khas replica to the right.
What do our readers have to say about architectural copies of landmarks or architectural plagiarization?
I understand Mirpur Khas is a much smaller city than Karachi and has much limited resources. But inspite of lack of funds to build a landmark of grand scale, some ingenuity of design must be practised.
This particular landmark design is just an example. Through this post, I want to raise a general question on whether copying a landmark is OK or does it leave a bad taste showing prevalent mediocrity in the society.
To me personally it leaves a bad taste. This is mediocrity and lack of ingenuity.
Following two photos are another example of copycat architecture in Pakistan. First photo is Shaikh Zyed Center in Punjab University Campus, Lahore and the photo below it is Shaikh Zayed Center at Karachi University. Both buildings are identical. I must admit that to me these buildings are beautiful and symmetric. They are far from being ugly but I do have this wish that if somebody was spending millions of rupees on construction of these huge buildings, they could’ve made their design unique too.
Shaikh Zayed Center, Punjab University, Lahore
Shaikh Zayed Center, Karachi University, Karachi
Before ending, I realize the grammatically correct title of the post should’ve been “teen talwareN aur teen khanjar” Or may be a more poetic one such as ‘talwar teri aankhen, khanjar teri nigaaheN’ but I’ve kept the title as it is to go with the common name of the monument which is ‘teen talwar’.
Photo Credits: Raja Islam and Jehangir Khan
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Why do we have to relate everything with weapons???”
– “Its our culture :D But to be fair, not every monument is of talwars or khanjars, so it isn’t fair to say ‘everything’.”
– “Nusrat is right to some extent because considering the deteriorating law and order situation in Pakistan, is it really necessary to enforce images of weapons in every nook and corner of the country?”
– “Would you prefer Statues? which wouldn’t go too well with “the faithful”?”
FYI, The French who donated the Statue of Liberty have left a smaller copy of it in Paris. I think it’s ok to copy a monument as long as the copy is not disfigured or a caricature of the original.
Frankly, I do not like the ideas of talwar or khanjar.
We have enough violence around us without this reminder.
And the idea of putting religious verses on a weapon is specially disgusting to me.
the word ‘teen muchen’ for a monument made me smile :)
Maybe soon we’ll see a change in the trend and maybe Lahore will lead by coming up with a new monument known as teen muchain, because Lahore has always been a city of brave specially mard and proven it also in the past.