In advance of Mawlana Hazar Imam’s India trip, the attached press release provides the results to date of the unfolding of Mawlana Hazar Imam’s vision of the work carried out in New Delhi.
Delhi, September 2013 – The restoration of the Mughal Emperor Humayun’s 16th century
garden tomb, the jewel of Mughal architecture that predates the Taj Mahal, is to be inaugurated on 18 September by India’s Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Union Minister of Culture Mrs Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Chairman of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mr Ratan Tata, and His Highness the Aga Khan. Six years of conservation works and 200,000 work days undertaken by master craftsmen have been required to restore the Tomb’s Mughal finery.
Completion of the restoration builds on the pledge made by the Aga Khan in 1997, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of India’s independence, to restore the Tomb’s gardens. Since 2007, the Urban Renewal Initiative, implemented by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India, several government agencies and cofunding partners, has included: conservation of over 30 monuments; the creation, by an extensive programme of landscaping, of a 69 hectare (170 acre) city park in the Sundar NurseryBatashewala Complex; and significant improvements to the quality of life for the residents of Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, a repository of seven centuries of living culture.
Restoration at Humayun’s Tomb and its gateways, pavilions and enclosure by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture has been co-funded by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and carried out in partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India.
For more information, see the website: http://www.nizamuddinrenewal.org/ and the brief:
http://www.akdn.org/publications/2013_aktc_humayun.pdf
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