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| Indian Emperor's Tomb Gets Face-lift As Aga Khan Promotes Heritage | ||||||||||
| Tucked away in a residential area of India's capital is one of its least-known tourist attractions - the 16th century tomb of the emperor Humayun. The magnificent red sandstone tomb is said to have provided the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, but is rarely included in the "must-see" list for visitors, who prefer to go to the more famous Red Fort, India Gate Monument or Rashrapati Bhavan (president's palace). | ||||||||||
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Tucked away in a residential area of India's capital is one of its least-known tourist attractions - the 16th century tomb of the emperor Humayun. The magnificent red sandstone tomb is said to have provided the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, but is rarely included in the "must-see" list for visitors, who prefer to go to the more famous Red Fort, India Gate Monument or Rashrapati Bhavan (president's palace). But that could soon change with the completion of a two-year, 650,000-dollar project to restore the "paradise gardens" of Humayun's tomb, where water flows in traditional fountains and hand-crafted channels for the first time in 400 years. The tomb was built over a decade from 1565 by the widom of Emperor Humayun, the son of Babur who founded the Mughal empire. The 30 acre (12 hectare) site contains more than 100 graves and was the first Mughal tomb with a "Chahar-bagh" or four-part paradise garden on the Indian subcontinent. But when the capital was moved from Delhi to Agra, the site of the Taj Mahal, the tomb was neglected and the water dried up. It now gets about 1,000 visitors a day and officials said they were hoping to double or even triple the figure now the gardens have been spruced up. By contrast, the Red Fort gets around 15,000 visitors, although many complain that site is in a state of disrepair. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is the government body looking after India's heritage, but is hampered by a lack of resources. The Humayun tomb garden restoration was the first privately funded revitalization of a world heritage site in India and was a joint project of the ASI and the Aga Khan Trust For Culture (AKTC). The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's Ismaili Muslim community, was in New Delhi to officially open the gardens. "We are gathered, near the twilight hour, surrounded by the signs of paradise…" he told the great and the good of Delhi who attended the sunset ceremony. Endeavours such as this are vital for countries like India, well-endowed with historical and cultural treasures, but also burdened by the responsibility of preserving them for future generations," he said. "As we witnessed most poignantly across Afghanistan and now in Iraq, the very survival of so much of this heritage is today at risk." Ratish Nanda, from the AKTC, who oversaw the project, said the work had been done painstakingly by hand. "The whole idea was to encourage traditional craftsmanship, so the job was very labour intensive." The task was vast, involving 60 stonecutters who prepared 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) of red sandstone slabs, and the planting of 2,500 mango, lemon, hibiscus and jasmine trees according to Mughal traditions. "Water channels were relaid to such exacting standards that their beds rise only one centimeter every 40 meters, which is a magnificent feat of engineering," he explained. Some 3,000 truckloads of earth were removed from the gardens to uncover the original garden features, but no heavy machinery was allowed into the gardens. Instead auto-rickshaws were used to transport the debris off the site. A rainwater harvesting scheme was part of the project - a necessity in Delhi, which suffers from water shortages in the scorching summer. "There are about 200,000 litres of water flowing around the gardens at any one time and all water is reused. The only amount that is lost is through evaporation which is about 15,000 litres each day," said Nanda. Nanda said maintenance would cost around 200,000 rupees (4,000 dollars) a month which was sustainable as it was the equivalent of about one or two day's entry ticket sales. |
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