HYDERABAD: Stressing on the need for a series of archaeological excavations at the Qutb Shahi Heritage Park site, Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) CEO Ratish Nanda said that, if followed through, it could reveal the existence of a civilisation predating the Qutb Shahis.
Nanda, whose AKTC is taking up the conservation of the Qutb Shahi tombs in collaboration with the State government, said while delivering a lecture at Lamakaan on Friday, “We need a whole series of excavations to reveal the history of the site. There could even be foundations of a whole settlement that existed here before the site became a necropolis.”.
The Qutb Shahi Heritage Park, which includes seven major tombs of Qutb Shahi emperors apart from 80 other monuments, have been under restoration for the last five years. The site has also been nominated for the World Heritage Site tag along with the Golconda Fort.
Nanda, speaking about the challenges of conservation of the site, pointed out that there was a lack of archival materials at the Qutb Shahi tombs for documentation -- a process required for assessing the scale of restoration needed at a site. “Secondly,” he said, “the years of faulty restoration work with the use of cement have not only hampered the aesthetic value of the monuments, but also damaged its quality.”
Nanda stressed that the idea should be to go back to the original lime plaster material and use the same kind of material for conservation as well. Another big challenge was that of landscape restoration.
Nanda found out that myriad works had been undertaken through the years to beautify the landscape, but none matched the monument’s aesthetic appeal. Often, he said, workers had to dig up to three ft to reach to the original flooring present during the Qutb Shahis’ time. Nanda, however, lamented the lack of a proper frontal entrance to the Qutb Shahi Heritage Park. “The biggest disservice that Hyderabad has done to the tomb is blocking the whole entrance. This unique complex has a side gate and a strange motorable road to enter the tomb complex,” he said, adding that the AKTC was working with the State Government and Quli Qutub Shah Urban Development Authority to secure a frontal entrance to the park with proper parking space.