Revisiting Jinnah at the Quaid-e-Azam Museum

Welcome to the Quaid-e-Azam Museum, formerly known as the Flagstaff House.

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All images are interactive and can be viewed in 360 degrees. Click and hold inside the​ image ​to move around in the surroundings (press​/​swipe on mobile, or move your phone)​.​

Audio: Inside the rooms, ​Begum Pasha Haroon shares insights about Mr Jinnah and Ms Fatima Jinnah. Ms Haroon was the wife of Late Yusuf Haroon, son of Haji Abdullah Haroon who was one of the central figures of the Pakistan movement.

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Muhammad Ali Jinnah bought this lavish 10,241-square-yard property over 70 years ago. He paid the now modest price of Rs115,000 for it. Sixty-six years old at the time of purchase, Jinnah’s retirement plan was to move into the house. However, after finally relocating here in 1947, he was only able to live at the residence for a brief period. After he fell ill, upon the advice of the colonel doctor, Jinnah was transferred to the Governor House where he spent his last days.

Fatima Jinnah lived in the house for longer; she spent 16 years here.

Karachi has changed by a lot since then, but, sparing deterioration brought on by age, the house remains the same. Nothing has been moved, alleges Rashidul Wahab, the oldest guide at the museum. “It has been left as Quaid-e-Azam had set it,” he says.

The museum is located on the aptly named Fatima Jinnah Road. Its colonial era yellow stones glisten in the sunlight, in front of the structure a proudly hoisted Pakistani flag flutters with the wind. Enthused schoolchildren take selfies outside the museum, at once reminding you that it is 2016. But walking inside is like stepping into a time machine.