Peshawar: two and a half thousand years at the mouth of the Khyber

A short history

The Sanskrit name was Purushapura — the city of men, or of flowers, depending on the reading. In the second century CE it was the winter capital of the Kushan empire under Kanishka the Great, with an estimated population of 120,000, which made it the seventh-largest city in the world at the time.

Kanishka was a Buddhist and built accordingly. The Kanishka Stupa held relics of the Buddha and was, by the accounts of Chinese pilgrims who saw it, extraordinarily tall — quite possibly the tallest structure anywhere at that date. Peshawar was one of the principal cities of Gandhara.

After that came the Ghaznavids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, the Durrani Afghans, the Sikhs and the British, each leaving something. The Mahabat Khan Mosque, with its white marble front, dates from 1630.

Places worth your time

Qissa Khwani Bazaar

The storytellers' bazaar, and the heart of the old city. Caravans stopped here and traded news; the tea houses are still the point.

Mahabat Khan Mosque

From 1630, hidden inside the bazaar, and startling when you come through the entrance into the courtyard.

Sethi Houses

Nineteenth-century merchant mansions built in a Central Asian style, with basements dug deep for the summer. One is open to visitors.

Peshawar Museum

A Victorian building holding one of the world's great collections of Gandharan Buddhist sculpture.

Bala Hisar Fort

The old royal seat of the Afghan kings, on the high ground above the city.

Before you go

October to March. Two hours from Islamabad on the motorway. Check current advice before travelling and take a local guide for the old city — not for safety so much as because it is a maze.