The Punjab government inaugurated a gallery for the Sikhs at the Lahore Museum on Thursday.

The gallery was inaugurated by Culture Minister Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal. It was built to display solidarity with the Sikh community, according to one of the officials of the museum. “Spiritual hymns of the Sikh tradition were recited at the opening ceremony,” said one of the officials.

He added, it was initially a temporary exhibit that was opened in September before being made a permanent part of the museum.

A model of the Golden Temple in India and Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s sword are popular attractions at the gallery, said a person who attended the inauguration.

Not only that, religious scriptures, letters and pictures dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries are also among the many attractions.

Members of the Sikh community from the US, UK, and Canada and India visited the gallery in numbers. Lahore Museum’s Director Tariq Mahmood said that the gallery will serve as an attraction for Sikhs visiting Pakistan following the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor.

The corridor will provide Sikh pilgrims from India easy access to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, which is located in Narowal’s Kartapur. The present Gurdwara is built on the site where Guru Nanak died on September 22, 1539.

The corridor will be ready to welcome the Sikhs on Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birthday on November 9.