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LAHORE, Jan 7: Unesco has given the archaeology department about $900,000 for the renovation of the Shish Mahal and the drainage system of the Lahore Fort.
Unesco director Ingeborg Berines, who had earlier promised to $10 million for the restoration, conservation and upgradation of the fort, could only help secure the release of the said money. This has forced the authorities to shelve their plan to set up a museum at the basement chamber of the fort.
Department officials told Dawnon Tuesday that the renovation would begin after consultations with the world’s renowned archaeologists. A conference in this regard was being held in the second week of the next month which would be participated in by archaeologists from across the globe.
The officials said the department could not take a risk by embarking on the renovation work on its own because the Shish Mahal required to be handled very delicately. Only archaeologists from the world could help execute the plan, they said.
A couple of months ago, the department had installed a specially designed “angle iron structure” over the roof to harbour the rotten wooden truss of the Shish Mahal. The structure, however, was only a temporary cover from moisture and air pressure.
Its interior was also weak with cracks visible along its highly bedecked structure. It was suffering from the aging phenomenon of pulverization because of which the grip of the decorative mirrors had loosened over the year. The Shish Mahal had started crumbling in the early 1990s due to rainwater.
Former archaeology conservator Raja Javed said that he had done a thorough study on the Shish Mahal.
“Unless heavy traffic passing adjacent to the Shish Mahal is not banned, its decay will continue.” He said the drainage system of the fort was inadequate and needed to be improved.
The archaeology officials, however, believed that the grant would help lay an effective drainage system as well as improve the condition of the Shish Mahal.
HISTORY: Situated in the northwest corner of the fort, the Shish Mahal is one of the unique and most profusely decorated places of the Mughal period.
Built by Asif Khan for Emperor Shah Jahan in 1631-32, it formed the harem of the fort. It consists of a spacious and lofty hall in front and several rooms behind and on either side of it.
The main decorative features of the Shish Mahal include aiena karior convex glass mosaic with munnabat kari or stucco tracery; gilt work; pietra-dura work specially in the spandrels of the arches; the marble screen of extraordinary beauty and perfection skillfully carved in geometrical and tendril designs.
There are traces indicating that the chambers were originally decorated with gilding and fresco paintings. The floor of the spacious courtyard in front of the hall is paved with stone slabs in a variety of variegated marble, such as Sang-i-Badal, Sang-i-Abri, Sang-i-Musa, Sang-i-Khattu in the centre of the courtyard. Four jet fountains played in the basin. Four water channels, paved with Sang-i-Abri and running in the middle of all four sides, empty themselves in the basin.
DEFERRED: Plan to set up a museum at the basement chamber of the fort has been deferred because of the shortage of funds.
The basement chamber of the fort has been closed since 1980. The British used it as ammunition store. After independence, the chamber remained in the control of the Civil Defence Department. In 1968, it was repaired and opened to general public, but was closed again on account of vandalism.
According to the department’s plan, the museum was to house antiquities from the second century BC to the 19th century and coins from Ghaznavi period onwards, farameen (royal decrees), photographs, historical maps and navigational instruments. The plan also included display of works by eminent artists.
