Conservation kudos: Shahi Hammam restoration wins UNESCO’s Award of Merit

Kamran Lashari says conservation of Dina Nath well, Wazir Khan Square to be completed by March

LAHORE: The conservation of the 17th century Shahi Hammam in the Walled City of Lahore has received the Award of Merit in this year’s UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, announced in Bangkok on September 1.

To celebrate this, the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) and Aga Khan Culture Services Pakistan (AKCSP) organised a press briefing at the Hammam on Thursday.

The Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (AKCSP), with financial support of the Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE) and facilitation from the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), carried out the conservation of the Mughal-era public bathhouse. The two-year project which was completed in 2015 is part of a successful public-private partnership between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Government of Punjab. The primary objectives of the conservation effort were to re-establish the monument as a bathhouse through the exposure, conservation and display of the remains of the original waterworks, drainage and hypocaust system through archaeological excavation, structural consolidation and restoration of the historic floor levels.

WCLA Director General Kamran Lashari said: “Conservation work at Dina Nath well and Wazir Khan square will be completed by March next year. These will be revived to their original glory.” AKCSP consultant Rashid Makhdum briefed the participants about the historic importance of Shahi Hammam and the techniques used during its conservation.

He said that the two-year project, completed in 2015, was part of a public-private partnership between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the provincial government.

“The primary objectives of the conservation effort were to re-establish the monument as a bathhouse through the exposure, conservation and display of the remains of the original waterworks, drainage and hypocaust system through archaeological excavation, structural consolidation and restoration of the historic floor levels,” Makhdum said.

He said the award winners were selected on the basis of the articulation of the spirit of place, technical achievement, appropriate use or adaption and the project’s contribution to the surrounding environment as well as the local community’s cultural and historical continuity. As many as 13 projects from six countries – Australia, China, India, Iran, Japan and Pakistan – have been recognised in this year’s Heritage Awards.

Makhdum said Hammam’s conservation project had paved the way for similar monumental conservation in other parts of the Walled City, including the rehabilitation of the Chowk Wazir Khan, and preparatory documentation of the Lahore Fort, a UNESCO world heritage site. “Both these projects are being completed with the financial assistance from the US and Norwegian Embassies in Pakistan,” he said. According to a statement issued by the AKCSP, the Hammam has now been established as a heritage museum-site that welcomes tourists and visitors from all over the world, and is kept alive as a venue for talks, seminars and cultural and corporate events.  Since its opening in June 2015, the Hammam has been visited by upwards of 23,000 local and 1,200 international visitors, and is increasingly becoming the centrepiece of tourism in the Walled City, along with the Lahore Fort.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2016.