Qutb Shahi Heritage Park: Culmination of a decade-long journey of conservation

This feat was undertaken by a multi-disciplinary squad astatine AKTC successful 2011.The ambitious conservation effort began with prioritising structures that were already successful an precocious signifier of deterioration oregon partial collapse. They managed to cod implicit 500 images from the 1850’s onwards for the project. Ratish Nanda, Chief Executive, AKTC, said, “A large situation has been the maltreatment of the judicial strategy by vested interests – holding up important task components specified arsenic gathering of a tract museum.”

Plaster repairs and restoration connected the dome.

Also known arsenic the ‘Golconda Sultanate’, the Qutb Shahi dynasty ruled the metropolis of Hyderabad and its surrounding areas for much than a period and a half, adorning it with a uniquely graceful benignant of architecture – with dense stucco ornamental enactment and latticed screens. While this benignant is already contiguous successful revered monuments similar the Golconda Fort and Charminar, AKTC contends that the dynasty’s astir important architectural ensemble is the Qutb Shahi necropolis, which required large restoration work.

This task was yet imaginable with the enactment of Tata Trusts, US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, Indigo Reach/ InterGlobe Foundation, and the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany, Chennai. To showcase their decennary agelong journey, AKTC has organised an exhibition, ‘Qutb Shahi Heritage Park, Golconda: Conserving the Royal Necropolis,’ astatine the Kamaladevi Complex Art Gallery, India International Centre, till October 11.

Touted arsenic a ‘model project’ that tin beryllium replicated by different nationalist sites, the conservation process was geared towards restoring the tone and feeling of the space, emphasising craftsmanship, mentation and supervision. The project’s holistic and sustainable attack is possibly champion reflected successful the restoration of the Qutb Shahi baolis (step-wells). Out of the 8 archetypal baolis, six person been discovered, conserved and restored to their archetypal functionality. In the lawsuit of Badi Baoli, the mammoth undertaking required implicit 600 tonnes of chromatic masonry implicit 3 years. One of the superior objectives was to guarantee that erstwhile functional, the baolis could cod the h2o required for consequent conservation works and irrigation for the garden. In 2021, the six step-wells altogether collected implicit 20 cardinal litres of rainwater.

Remnants of archetypal tile patterns recovered connected removal of cement.

Part of the process was to undo 20th period attempts to reconstruct the monument, which had covered the monuments’ surfaces with cement plaster. On the dome of Muhammad Qutb Shah’s mausoleum, removal of cement plaster uncovered traces of glazed tiles connected the dome, minars, columns and cornice— with casual to discern archetypal patterns. With tilework present restored, the mausoleum erstwhile again displays the emerald sheen it erstwhile adorned.

The accumulation volition diagnostic a speech by historiographer and architecture conservator Sajjad Shahid connected ‘Cultural Practices of the Qutb Shahis’ connected October 4. On October 9, Nanda volition springiness an illustrated lecture connected the conservation and scenery restoration.

Samveg Chauhan is an intern astatine The Indian Express