Taxila

Taxila (literally "cloven rock") is a city in Rawalpindi District, Punjab, Pakistan, located in the Taxila Tehsil. It is located approximately 25 kilometers (16 miles) northwest of Rawalpindi-Islamabad and just south of Haripur District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Taxila was an important city in ancient India, located on the eastern bank of the Indus River at the crossroads of the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. It was established approximately 1000 BCE. Some Taxila remains date from the 6th century BCE Achaemenid Empire, which was followed by the Mauryan Empire, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, and Kushan Empire periods. Taxila has changed hands numerous times over the years due to its strategic location, with many empires striving for dominance.

When the huge old trade routes connecting these regions became obsolete, the city faded into obscurity and was eventually destroyed by the nomadic Hunas in the fifth century. In the mid-nineteenth century, renowned archaeologist Sir Alexander Cunningham unearthed the Taxila remains. Taxila was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.

According to some sources, the University of Ancient Taxila was one of the world's first universities. Others do not consider it a university in the modern sense, because the teachers who lived there may not have been official members of specific colleges, and there did not appear to be purpose-built lecture halls and residential quarters in Taxila, in contrast to the later Nalanda University in eastern India.

Taxila was named one of 12 worldwide sites most "on the verge" of catastrophic loss and harm in a 2010 report by the Global Heritage Fund, citing insufficient management, development pressure, looting, and war and violence as key risks. However, the government has made major preservation efforts since then, resulting in the site being designated as "well-preserved" by various international publications. The site is one of the most famous historical sites in Pakistan, attracting up to one million visitors every year, thanks to substantial preservation efforts and care.

Location: Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan