Amritsar, India

Amritsar is a city in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab, 28 kilometers from the border with Pakistan. It is  the centre of Sikhism and the site of the Sikhs’ principal place of worship—the Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple. At the center of its walled old town, the gilded Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) is the holiest gurdwara (religious complex) of the Sikh religion. It’s at the end of a causeway, surrounded by the sacred Amrit Sarovar tank (lake), where pilgrims bathe. A short distance away from the Golden Temple complex is a spacious park, Jallianwalla Bagh, where on April 13, 1919, British colonial government troops fired on a crowd of unarmed Indian protesters, killing 379 of them and wounding many more. The site of the Massacre of Amritsar—as that incident came to be called—is a national monument. Amritsar is the largest and most important city in Punjab and is a major commercial, cultural, and transportation centre. Amritsar is a centre for the textile and chemical industries and also engages in food milling and processing, silk weaving, tanning, canning, and the manufacture of machinery.

Connectivity

The city lies on the main Grand Trunk Road (GT Road) from Delhi to Amritsar connecting to Lahore in Pakistan. The G. T. Road, built by Sher Shah Suri, runs through the whole of the northern half of the Indian subcontinent, connecting Peshawar, Pakistan to Sonargaon, Bangladesh

An airport is nearby (11kms away from the city). Amritsar's international airport, Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, has more than 400 domestic and international flights during the week with daily connections to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Srinagar and Jammu etc. in India and international flights to London (Heathrow), Melbourne and Sydney via Delhi.

Amritsar is connected by rail to almost every major city in India. Amritsar railway station is the main terminus. The Samjhauta Express runs from Delhi through Amritsar to Lahore in Pakistan.