‘Portrait of Lahore’ painted on the first day

Delegates talk about city’s architecture and how best to preserve it.

LAHORE: Delegates at the Trust for History, Art and Architecture of Pakistan’s conference presented papers relating to the theme, ‘Portrait of Lahore’, on the first day of the symposium.

The papers presented at the conference are about the state of the city’s architecture and make recommendations about how best it can be restored.

Architect Dr Pervaiz Vandal started off the conference by addressing delegates who have come from UK, Sweden, USA, India, Iran, Belgium and Germany. Vandal’s commencement speech was followed by Professor Shahnawaz Zaidi, a sculpture teacher at COMSATS, who talked about his experiences with the city by reciting poems and couplets. Nida Rehman, an architect, followed Zaidi and presented a paper about the Ravi.The second session was chaired by Professor Dr Priyaleen Singh, a conservation and landscape architect from Delhi, India. Saba Samee, an archaeologist, talked about the tombs of Anarkali and Jahangir and what they represent. Other papers presented during the second session were Hala Bashir’s Post Colonial Domestic Architecture in Lahore and a joint research by Prof Dr Neelum Naz and Saadia Ahmed about the historical and spatial portrait of Naulakha Bazaar.

Events other than the conference, which will end today, will continue till November 18.

An exhibition “Aarsi - Kaleidoscopic Images: Lahore seen through the eyes of the Students” will open on November 13 at Alhamra, The Mall. A play will be performed at Hazuri Bagh on November 14. The week long event will conclude with a mushaira on November 18. Entry to the events is free-of-charge.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2011.