via Globe & Mail Canada, by Affan Chowdhry – Down the muddy monsoon-soaked path and through the towering red brick Delhi Gate of Lahore’s fabled walled city, there is an ambitious project to turn back decades of neglect and unchecked commercialization and save the city’s remaining treasures.
The area is abuzz with labourers digging up the roads. Already, workers for the conservation project have demolished a cloth market and a line of shops that was built against a 17th-century mosque, damaging its facade and structure.
For a city more than 1,000 years old, a powerful conservation effort of this kind – backed by political will, money and restoration expertise is critical.
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With the help of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Authority has identified about 2,000 structures as having historical significance.
Masood Khan, senior architect and planner with the Aga Khan Trust, said residents of Lahore, a city of 10 million, experience a “cultural amnesia” when it comes to the old city – forgetting that it was once the centre of power and culture until the 19th century when British colonial rule established institutions outside the walled city.
More Saving Lahore’s fabled walled city – The Globe and Mail.
Related: Walled City of Lahore: Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s work helped develop a Geographical Information System (GIS)
Lahore authorities battle to restore splendour of ancient Walled City
Endangered heritage: Lahore’s walled city
Ismailimail 