Humayun’s Tomb site exhibit launched

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture,in partnership with the ASI and with co-funding from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust,is presently engaged in a major conservation project at the Tomb,a World Heritage Site. As part of the project,the lower cells of the principal gateway have been conserved and an appropriate space has been created to house an exhibit explaining the salient features of the complex and the ongoing not-for-profit public private partnership project,officials said.

Ratish Nanda,Project Director,AKTC,said,“The site exhibit will help enhancse the visitors’ experience,especially of the thousands of schoolchildren who visit every month. The installation of the exhibit in the restored cells of the west gate have allowed an appropriate reuse of the monument building. The conservation works included removal of 20th-Century cement and replacement with lime plaster,clearing blocked openings,restoring handcrafted sandstone screens and providing a new sandstone flooring.”

The exhibit is mostly graphic and uses minimal text,which is bilingual. It explains Emperor Humayun’s character,his exile and re-capture of the empire,the significance of the tomb as a precursor to the Taj Mahal and salient features of the Charbagh. With the help of architectural models and graphic panels,the exhibit allows visitors to understand the location context of Humayun’s Tomb,built in proximity to the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya,Nanda said.

Photos by eminent photographers like Ram Rahman and Amit Pasricha,and sketches by Himanish Das bring alive the exhibit designed by Archana Saad Akhtar and curated by eminent historian Narayani Gupta.

The project website http://www.nizamuddinrenewal.org was also launched on the occasion.