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Saving Lahore's Architectural Heritage.
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LHC building being restored
LAHORE: Lahore High Court was declared a “special premises” under the Punjab Special Premises (Preservation) Ordinance 1985. Parts of it are now being restored to their original design.
Kamil Khan Mumtaz, architect and the consultant for the restoration, told The Express Tribune that the building’s eastern wing was being restored as part of a pilot project. Once this is completed, within a month if things go according to plan, other parts of the building will be restored as well.
The area being restored include two court rooms, two judges’ chambers with attached bath rooms, a kitchen, a secretaries’ room, a conference room on the first floor, a bath room on the first floor and a stair hall.
The restoration work includes improvement of roof, wooden false ceiling, flooring, wooden wall panelling, electrification, maintenance of windows and doors, maintenance of wooden ceiling of two canopies above the judges’ seats in two court rooms.
Mumtaz told The Express Tribune that relevant drawings, studies, and the original plan of the building had been gone through before starting renovation work. This allowed the project team to learn about the original form of the building. He said the ceiling and wall-panelling had been removed several years ago.
With regard to the five-foot wood-panelling of walls, Mumtaz said he was absolutely certain that it had been restored according to its original form. He said lime (choona) and red brick powder (kairi) had been used for repair of walls. He said the lime mortar served as a ‘sacrificial layer’ to protect the bricks by disintegrating if the wall is affected by dampness.
Mumtaz said that in view of present-day needs, some compromises had been made in the restoration of floors and ceilings. He said the record of the ceiling’s design in two court rooms was missing. He said the teams had concluded that there was a wooden ceiling considering other court rooms had such ceilings. According to the record, the floors were simply plastered with cement. However, after consulting judges, it had been decided to lay a chips floor.
Originally, shisham, sagwan (teak) and pine had been used. The restoration team had decided to use only pine for the ceiling, paneling, doors and windows. Mumtaz said the building and the wood had been treated chemically to protect it from termite.
He said they had handed over the plans, maps and drawing of the project to the officials of the Communication and Works Department, who visit the site fortnightly to ensure that the work is progressing in line with the consultants’ recommendations.
Communication and Works Department SDO Abdul Qayyum, who said the project had commenced in April 2013. He said the deadline for its completion is April 30, 2014. He said all materials used only had been approved by the consultant and the LHC authorities.
The LHC building was affected by the shock-waves from the terrorist attack at Queens Road near the CCPO’s office on May 27, 2009. The LHC administration had decided to restore the building and not build a new one.
The committee had decided to begin work in the eastern wing after inspecting the whole building. Rs44.756 million was approved for the work in 2013-14.
Earlier in 2004, LHC administration had demolished the western wing of the building sparking protests by civil society activists, lawyers and students of the National College of Arts and University of the Punjab. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court had ordered the then LHC chief justice to constitute a committee to ensure that the building was reconstructed with its original architectural features, design and façade. A new double-storey building was built, that lacked many of the original features.
New is old: Historic LHC building being restored – The Express Tribune
LAHORE: Lahore High Court was declared a “special premises” under the Punjab Special Premises (Preservation) Ordinance 1985. Parts of it are now being restored to their original design.
Kamil Khan Mumtaz, architect and the consultant for the restoration, told The Express Tribune that the building’s eastern wing was being restored as part of a pilot project. Once this is completed, within a month if things go according to plan, other parts of the building will be restored as well.
The area being restored include two court rooms, two judges’ chambers with attached bath rooms, a kitchen, a secretaries’ room, a conference room on the first floor, a bath room on the first floor and a stair hall.
The restoration work includes improvement of roof, wooden false ceiling, flooring, wooden wall panelling, electrification, maintenance of windows and doors, maintenance of wooden ceiling of two canopies above the judges’ seats in two court rooms.
Mumtaz told The Express Tribune that relevant drawings, studies, and the original plan of the building had been gone through before starting renovation work. This allowed the project team to learn about the original form of the building. He said the ceiling and wall-panelling had been removed several years ago.
With regard to the five-foot wood-panelling of walls, Mumtaz said he was absolutely certain that it had been restored according to its original form. He said lime (choona) and red brick powder (kairi) had been used for repair of walls. He said the lime mortar served as a ‘sacrificial layer’ to protect the bricks by disintegrating if the wall is affected by dampness.
Mumtaz said that in view of present-day needs, some compromises had been made in the restoration of floors and ceilings. He said the record of the ceiling’s design in two court rooms was missing. He said the teams had concluded that there was a wooden ceiling considering other court rooms had such ceilings. According to the record, the floors were simply plastered with cement. However, after consulting judges, it had been decided to lay a chips floor.
Originally, shisham, sagwan (teak) and pine had been used. The restoration team had decided to use only pine for the ceiling, paneling, doors and windows. Mumtaz said the building and the wood had been treated chemically to protect it from termite.
He said they had handed over the plans, maps and drawing of the project to the officials of the Communication and Works Department, who visit the site fortnightly to ensure that the work is progressing in line with the consultants’ recommendations.
Communication and Works Department SDO Abdul Qayyum, who said the project had commenced in April 2013. He said the deadline for its completion is April 30, 2014. He said all materials used only had been approved by the consultant and the LHC authorities.
The LHC building was affected by the shock-waves from the terrorist attack at Queens Road near the CCPO’s office on May 27, 2009. The LHC administration had decided to restore the building and not build a new one.
The committee had decided to begin work in the eastern wing after inspecting the whole building. Rs44.756 million was approved for the work in 2013-14.
Earlier in 2004, LHC administration had demolished the western wing of the building sparking protests by civil society activists, lawyers and students of the National College of Arts and University of the Punjab. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court had ordered the then LHC chief justice to constitute a committee to ensure that the building was reconstructed with its original architectural features, design and façade. A new double-storey building was built, that lacked many of the original features.
New is old: Historic LHC building being restored – The Express Tribune
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The amazing things discovered at the Shahi Hammam
We live in times when ‘heritage’ is a word our trader-rulers avoid. For that matter ‘culture’ makes them, like Hitler, go for their guns. Lastly, ‘conservation’ yields them no profit, so that is best avoided.
But in these ‘Dark Ages’ that Pakistan is passing through, we must never forget that Lahore is the one city, so say the experts, where over 40 per cent of the historic monuments in the entire sub-continent of the Moghal era are located in, or around. What we have done to Lahore is another story.
Last Tuesday I set off to see some excellent work underway by the Walled City of Lahore Authority, with the assistance of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture with the financial backing of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad.
As I entered Delhi Gate the first monument to the left is the ‘Shahi Hammam’ – The Royal Baths. I remember bureaucrats until recently used this place for ‘very special’ parties. It was even ‘rented out’ as a ‘wedding hall’.
Our bureaucrats have insulted our finest monuments in every possible manner their ‘minds’ could conjure up. Since the creation of Lahore’s new ‘walled city’ authority, and I say this from personal experience, our bureaucrats are trying hard to fail their efforts, with our chief minister cancelling nine important meetings on Lahore since he was recently elected.
I am not surprised. To his immense credit, the prime minister seems much more worried about old Lahore.
Back to the Shahi Hammam which needs to be described. This is an early 1630s bath in the tradition of the Turkish and Persian style. I remember once while hitchhiking through Turkey in the 1970s as a student, I used one in Erzurum. Oh, the hot steam virtually peeled my skin and almost broasted me like a chicken.
Then a huge wrestler dragged me by the neck, put me on a hot marble slab and slapped my tired naked body into shape. I came gasping, and in one piece, but felt that I was floating on air.
Imagine the days of the emperor Shah Jehan and a tired guest after riding for days from Delhi getting ‘prepared’ to enter the Lahore Fort to meet royalty.
They were probably treated as I was in Erzarum. In nearby guesthouses they slept, and in the evening listened to storytellers in the huge ground opposite the mosque of Wazir Khan as the caravan traders settled down around a fire.
It surely would have been a scene dreams are made of, and that is why Lahore remains, even today, a special city.
However, Hakim Ilmuddin Ansari, the Governor of Lahore in those days, built the huge intricate Shahi Hammam in 1634. He was granted the title Wazir Khan, a name by which he is, and always will be, remembered.
Until very recently even our experts did not know how this amazing ‘hammam’ functioned. The rooms and the openings certainly did point out to a very intricate ‘bath’, the likes of which none other exists in the entire sub-continent.
Then it was merely a ‘hammam’, not some grand fort or mosque that the pious should worry about, let alone our ‘scholars’. It was completely ignored, probably ‘violated’ is a better word. With time, shops overtook the huge amazing complex, portion of which the British turned into a school, while the remaining became a dispensary and government offices.
Then once the authority was set up they started to think about this monument, and it was a small proposal for a grant to the Norwegians that set things rolling.
They insisted that the world’s finest conservation organisation be used, and hence the Aga Khan Trust for Culture came in. What emerged is amazing, and I would request any sensible schoolteacher in Lahore to take their youngsters to see just what has been discovered.
The Aga Khan experts set about trying to discover the secret of the functioning of this unique bath. They found British era bricks blocking them at every step, almost a deliberate attempt to block out our past.
As they dug up the floors, all relatively recent cements additions, they discovered a massive and exceptionally intricate network of heating spaces, watercourses, heat conservation brickwork, steam inlets, cold-water sprays, and spaces for massages, resting rooms, and other such constructs.
As they dug a 20-feet deep well for water disposal, at 17 feet they discovered a water inlet channel which fed the entire bath. With every passing day new discoveries are bursting forth.
My view is, and this is what the international rules of conservation say, that these amazing discoveries be conserved as they are being uncovered and in the shape they are in. No attempt should be made to recreate a new bath.
That would be criminal.As the process of discovery continues inside Delhi Gate, I hope the people of Lahore also donate towards a fund that will see this great undertaking to its logical conclusion, for it is slow painful work that costs a lot.
It is about time we acted for the sake our heritage and our culture, conserving it for our children and grandchildren, and their children.
The amazing things discovered at the Shahi Hammam - DAWN.COM
We live in times when ‘heritage’ is a word our trader-rulers avoid. For that matter ‘culture’ makes them, like Hitler, go for their guns. Lastly, ‘conservation’ yields them no profit, so that is best avoided.
But in these ‘Dark Ages’ that Pakistan is passing through, we must never forget that Lahore is the one city, so say the experts, where over 40 per cent of the historic monuments in the entire sub-continent of the Moghal era are located in, or around. What we have done to Lahore is another story.
Last Tuesday I set off to see some excellent work underway by the Walled City of Lahore Authority, with the assistance of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture with the financial backing of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad.
As I entered Delhi Gate the first monument to the left is the ‘Shahi Hammam’ – The Royal Baths. I remember bureaucrats until recently used this place for ‘very special’ parties. It was even ‘rented out’ as a ‘wedding hall’.
Our bureaucrats have insulted our finest monuments in every possible manner their ‘minds’ could conjure up. Since the creation of Lahore’s new ‘walled city’ authority, and I say this from personal experience, our bureaucrats are trying hard to fail their efforts, with our chief minister cancelling nine important meetings on Lahore since he was recently elected.
I am not surprised. To his immense credit, the prime minister seems much more worried about old Lahore.
Back to the Shahi Hammam which needs to be described. This is an early 1630s bath in the tradition of the Turkish and Persian style. I remember once while hitchhiking through Turkey in the 1970s as a student, I used one in Erzurum. Oh, the hot steam virtually peeled my skin and almost broasted me like a chicken.
Then a huge wrestler dragged me by the neck, put me on a hot marble slab and slapped my tired naked body into shape. I came gasping, and in one piece, but felt that I was floating on air.
Imagine the days of the emperor Shah Jehan and a tired guest after riding for days from Delhi getting ‘prepared’ to enter the Lahore Fort to meet royalty.
They were probably treated as I was in Erzarum. In nearby guesthouses they slept, and in the evening listened to storytellers in the huge ground opposite the mosque of Wazir Khan as the caravan traders settled down around a fire.
It surely would have been a scene dreams are made of, and that is why Lahore remains, even today, a special city.
However, Hakim Ilmuddin Ansari, the Governor of Lahore in those days, built the huge intricate Shahi Hammam in 1634. He was granted the title Wazir Khan, a name by which he is, and always will be, remembered.
Until very recently even our experts did not know how this amazing ‘hammam’ functioned. The rooms and the openings certainly did point out to a very intricate ‘bath’, the likes of which none other exists in the entire sub-continent.
Then it was merely a ‘hammam’, not some grand fort or mosque that the pious should worry about, let alone our ‘scholars’. It was completely ignored, probably ‘violated’ is a better word. With time, shops overtook the huge amazing complex, portion of which the British turned into a school, while the remaining became a dispensary and government offices.
Then once the authority was set up they started to think about this monument, and it was a small proposal for a grant to the Norwegians that set things rolling.
They insisted that the world’s finest conservation organisation be used, and hence the Aga Khan Trust for Culture came in. What emerged is amazing, and I would request any sensible schoolteacher in Lahore to take their youngsters to see just what has been discovered.
The Aga Khan experts set about trying to discover the secret of the functioning of this unique bath. They found British era bricks blocking them at every step, almost a deliberate attempt to block out our past.
As they dug up the floors, all relatively recent cements additions, they discovered a massive and exceptionally intricate network of heating spaces, watercourses, heat conservation brickwork, steam inlets, cold-water sprays, and spaces for massages, resting rooms, and other such constructs.
As they dug a 20-feet deep well for water disposal, at 17 feet they discovered a water inlet channel which fed the entire bath. With every passing day new discoveries are bursting forth.
My view is, and this is what the international rules of conservation say, that these amazing discoveries be conserved as they are being uncovered and in the shape they are in. No attempt should be made to recreate a new bath.
That would be criminal.As the process of discovery continues inside Delhi Gate, I hope the people of Lahore also donate towards a fund that will see this great undertaking to its logical conclusion, for it is slow painful work that costs a lot.
It is about time we acted for the sake our heritage and our culture, conserving it for our children and grandchildren, and their children.
The amazing things discovered at the Shahi Hammam - DAWN.COM
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50 per cent of Shahi Hamam excavated
The Walled City Lahore Authority (WCLA) has completed around 50 per cent excavation of Shahi Hamam, which was originally built in 1634 AD in the period of Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan and later buried under mud during the British rule.
The monument will be like a jewel in crown of Lahore and, after complete excavation, restoration and conservation it can be the most visited tourist attraction, claimed the officials of WCLA. They said the authority was spending four million rupees on the restoration of the monument and the amount was donated by Royal Norwegian Embassy.
The Shahi Hammam is located just inside the Delhi Gate and was originally built around 1634 AD by Hakim Ilmuddin Ansari, the Governor of Lahore during the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58 AD). It was designed as a public bath house to service both visiting travelers as well as inhabitants of the city. A caravanserai was also located nearby which no longer exists.
Hakim Ilmuddin Ansari, who was granted the title of Wazir Khan, was also responsible for the construction of the famous mosque inside the Walled City which now bears his name.
Excavation of Shahid Hamam was started by WCLA in November 2013 in collaboration with the Agha Khan Trust for Culture and international excavators started working on the project. WCLA officials said in 1955, Shahi Hammam was recognized as a cultural asset and declared a protected monument by the Department of Archaeology. The entrance gateway on the west and the main hall in the northern part of the building are exquisitely decorated with frescoed panels depicting angels, animals, birds, floral and geometric designs.
A detailed report compiled by WCLA on the project revealed that having been covered for decades, if not centuries, with successive layers of whitewash, the frescoes were uncovered in 1991 and found to be unaltered specimens of Mughal era wall paintings, although a little provincial in execution.
Sometime during its history, the building had gone into oblivion and was taken over by the municipality to be used as a boys’ primary school, a girls’ vocational school, a dispensary and as offices for some of its functionaries. Makeshift structures to provide residential accommodation for some of the staff were added to the roof. The northwestern rooms were rented out as shops by the Department of Auqaf whilst additional shops were allowed to “grow” on the lengths of the building’s northern, western and southern façades.
The Hammam is a single storey building covering an area of over 1000 square metres. Built on the pattern of Turkish and Iranian bathing establishments of its time (which consisted of hot, warm and cool plunges, sweat rooms and related facilities), Shahi Hammam is a collection of 21 inter-connected rooms offering all the facilities found in a public bath and an additional room set at an angle facing towards Mecca for offering prayers, the report said.
The report quoting to some historical accounts said the Hammam was used extensively by the public during Mughal times and was reserved for the exclusive use of women on a specific day of the week. The Shahi Hammam is the only monumental public bath from that period which still survives in the entire South Asian subcontinent.
On the exterior of the buildings, the removal of commercial encroachments has already been achieved and its façade on the northern side in the Delhi Gate Bazaar has already been conserved to a certain extent by the Walled City of Lahore Authority. In general, the building is structurally sound but its exterior walls have been badly defaced due to past encroachment. It has suffered misuse of interior spaces and partial, fragmented and, at times, inappropriate restoration and conservation efforts and the absence of a proper management plan have led to loss of its authentic values and significance.
The repair and conservation works carried out in 1991 had stopped short of fully realizing the original configuration of the bath house, its water works and its floor finishes, and the hurried covering up of the base of the building with a marble floor equaled the loss of the opportunity to know the building in depth.
WCLA’s report on Shahi Hamam said the primary objectives for conservation of the Shahi Hammam are to re-establish the conserved monument as witness to a tradition of the bath house as a space of social interaction and the bathing activity as a socializing discourse in the lives of the citizens of Lahore of the times before the decline of Mughal rule in the Sub-continent.
WCLA wanted to preserve this unique Hammam by conserving and restoring its structural fabric and decorations, presenting its original baths and related waterworks, and integrating the Hammam into its urban context in conjunction with the WCLA’s Shahi Guzargah Project. The Hammam would thus become a part of the larger ensemble of Delhi Gate, the rehabilitated Delhi Gate Bazaar and the Visitors’ Center being developed at the latter location.
According to the report, upon exposing, conserving and presenting the original bath structures, pools and cisterns, the various rooms and spaces of the bath houses will be either part of a museal display, or be integrated into the re-use function. It is likely that some of the less important spaces would be adapted to serve as display galleries and congregational areas for holding talks, mushairas or traditional story telling activities. Support activities and spaces like public toilets and related visitors’ facilities, souvenir shops and a kitchen to serve an outdoor restaurant are proposed to be developed in the open area adjacent to the Hammam on its eastern and southern sides.
WCLA officials said the project is planned to be completed by the last quarter of 2014.
WCLA director general Kamran Lashari, while talking with The News, said the authority takes pride in carrying out this project. “It is a unique project and upon its completion we will encourage people to visit this place,” he said. This is a piece of art and tourists will surely have a wonderful experience here, he added.
In future, WCLA plans to restore many other parts of the Walled City and unique monuments like this, he maintained.
50 per cent of Shahi Hamam excavated - thenews.com.pk
The Walled City Lahore Authority (WCLA) has completed around 50 per cent excavation of Shahi Hamam, which was originally built in 1634 AD in the period of Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan and later buried under mud during the British rule.
The monument will be like a jewel in crown of Lahore and, after complete excavation, restoration and conservation it can be the most visited tourist attraction, claimed the officials of WCLA. They said the authority was spending four million rupees on the restoration of the monument and the amount was donated by Royal Norwegian Embassy.
The Shahi Hammam is located just inside the Delhi Gate and was originally built around 1634 AD by Hakim Ilmuddin Ansari, the Governor of Lahore during the reign of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58 AD). It was designed as a public bath house to service both visiting travelers as well as inhabitants of the city. A caravanserai was also located nearby which no longer exists.
Hakim Ilmuddin Ansari, who was granted the title of Wazir Khan, was also responsible for the construction of the famous mosque inside the Walled City which now bears his name.
Excavation of Shahid Hamam was started by WCLA in November 2013 in collaboration with the Agha Khan Trust for Culture and international excavators started working on the project. WCLA officials said in 1955, Shahi Hammam was recognized as a cultural asset and declared a protected monument by the Department of Archaeology. The entrance gateway on the west and the main hall in the northern part of the building are exquisitely decorated with frescoed panels depicting angels, animals, birds, floral and geometric designs.
A detailed report compiled by WCLA on the project revealed that having been covered for decades, if not centuries, with successive layers of whitewash, the frescoes were uncovered in 1991 and found to be unaltered specimens of Mughal era wall paintings, although a little provincial in execution.
Sometime during its history, the building had gone into oblivion and was taken over by the municipality to be used as a boys’ primary school, a girls’ vocational school, a dispensary and as offices for some of its functionaries. Makeshift structures to provide residential accommodation for some of the staff were added to the roof. The northwestern rooms were rented out as shops by the Department of Auqaf whilst additional shops were allowed to “grow” on the lengths of the building’s northern, western and southern façades.
The Hammam is a single storey building covering an area of over 1000 square metres. Built on the pattern of Turkish and Iranian bathing establishments of its time (which consisted of hot, warm and cool plunges, sweat rooms and related facilities), Shahi Hammam is a collection of 21 inter-connected rooms offering all the facilities found in a public bath and an additional room set at an angle facing towards Mecca for offering prayers, the report said.
The report quoting to some historical accounts said the Hammam was used extensively by the public during Mughal times and was reserved for the exclusive use of women on a specific day of the week. The Shahi Hammam is the only monumental public bath from that period which still survives in the entire South Asian subcontinent.
On the exterior of the buildings, the removal of commercial encroachments has already been achieved and its façade on the northern side in the Delhi Gate Bazaar has already been conserved to a certain extent by the Walled City of Lahore Authority. In general, the building is structurally sound but its exterior walls have been badly defaced due to past encroachment. It has suffered misuse of interior spaces and partial, fragmented and, at times, inappropriate restoration and conservation efforts and the absence of a proper management plan have led to loss of its authentic values and significance.
The repair and conservation works carried out in 1991 had stopped short of fully realizing the original configuration of the bath house, its water works and its floor finishes, and the hurried covering up of the base of the building with a marble floor equaled the loss of the opportunity to know the building in depth.
WCLA’s report on Shahi Hamam said the primary objectives for conservation of the Shahi Hammam are to re-establish the conserved monument as witness to a tradition of the bath house as a space of social interaction and the bathing activity as a socializing discourse in the lives of the citizens of Lahore of the times before the decline of Mughal rule in the Sub-continent.
WCLA wanted to preserve this unique Hammam by conserving and restoring its structural fabric and decorations, presenting its original baths and related waterworks, and integrating the Hammam into its urban context in conjunction with the WCLA’s Shahi Guzargah Project. The Hammam would thus become a part of the larger ensemble of Delhi Gate, the rehabilitated Delhi Gate Bazaar and the Visitors’ Center being developed at the latter location.
According to the report, upon exposing, conserving and presenting the original bath structures, pools and cisterns, the various rooms and spaces of the bath houses will be either part of a museal display, or be integrated into the re-use function. It is likely that some of the less important spaces would be adapted to serve as display galleries and congregational areas for holding talks, mushairas or traditional story telling activities. Support activities and spaces like public toilets and related visitors’ facilities, souvenir shops and a kitchen to serve an outdoor restaurant are proposed to be developed in the open area adjacent to the Hammam on its eastern and southern sides.
WCLA officials said the project is planned to be completed by the last quarter of 2014.
WCLA director general Kamran Lashari, while talking with The News, said the authority takes pride in carrying out this project. “It is a unique project and upon its completion we will encourage people to visit this place,” he said. This is a piece of art and tourists will surely have a wonderful experience here, he added.
In future, WCLA plans to restore many other parts of the Walled City and unique monuments like this, he maintained.
50 per cent of Shahi Hamam excavated - thenews.com.pk
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