Abbasi Royal Graveyard spectacular: Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo

Bahawalpur: Italy’s Ambassador to Pakistan Stefano Pontecorvo on Sunday said the Abbasi Royal Graveyard close to the Derawar Fort and Bahawalpur was simply spectacular.

“Another unmissable heritage site in Pakistan. It is spectacular,” the envoy said.

The site is the royal graveyard of the Abbasi’s family and situated few yards away from the Shahi Masjid Derawar.

The Abbasi family was the ruling Nawab family of Bahawalpur and all of the previous Nawabs are buried here.

The graveyard is still owned and controlled by the Nawabs surviving family members.

There is one large size rectangular room that contains the graves of all the 12 Nawabs that ruled the Bahawalpur State. It also includes the grave of Nawab after 1966, who held the honorary title after merger of the state with Pakistan.

Other than the main rectangular tomb, there are many single tombs that belong to wives and brother / sisters of Nawabs.

These tombs display great architectural beauty. Most of them are the typical blue paintwork that is typical of Sindh and South Punjab architecture.

Few are also in white marble and few in burnt brick. The graveyard is the private property of Abbasi’s family.