LAHORE, April 6: The US-based Getty Foundation has granted $250,000 for the preservation of Shalamar Gardens, Punjab Archaeology Department officials told Dawn on Friday.

The Getty Foundation is part of the J Paul Getty Trust that provides funds for research on history of art, conservation of art collections, historic buildings and archaeological sites and support training of museum professionals, internships and museum interpretation.

The grant will be spent on the conservation of western gateways and the Hummam building or washroom.

The foundation has released $75,000 in 2006 for the first phase of the documentation and master plan of Shalamar Gardens.

Punjab Archaeology Department Director General Oriya Maqbool Jan informed the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organisation’s Islamabad office the Punjab government had committed Rs30 million for the conservation and restoration of Shalamar Gardens.

At present, work on a Naqar Khana, water channels and lighting is being carried out in the Shalamar Gardens. The lighting project has been awarded to a company, which has done illuminations at the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam in Karachi and Shah Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.

The conservation and restoration of water tanks that of outer wall, old wall and hydraulic system is also being carried out at the historical gardens.

The Shalamar Gardens is a splendid Mughal monument. For the Mughals, there were five geographical sources of inspiration for Shalamar: central Asia, Kashmir, western Punjab, Persia and the Delhi Sultanate.

Shah Jahan ordered the construction of the Shalamar Gardens in 1641 and opened it in 1642.

GOODBYE JAN: Punjab Archaeology Department Director General Oriya Maqbool Jan is packing up for Iran to take up his job with the culture institute of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO).