THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: To create awareness on the capital’s rich heritage, the Heritage Walk Trivandrum (HWT) will hold a curated West Fort walk to explore the historical significance of the Fort complex and Ammaveedu street on Sunday. The walk will trail through Mitranandapuram temple complex, pond, and Saraswathy Vilasom.
According to conservation architect Sharat Sunder Rajeev, lack of awareness is the biggest hurdle challenging the conservation of heritage buildings. “Unlike East Fort, which is a more presentable part of the Travancore heritage, West Fort is full of residential areas which used to be filled with heritage structures and houses. There used to be more heritage residential buildings,” said Sharat, who is also the assistant professor at the College of Engineering Trivandrum.
He said that heritage walks will help build awareness and provide a platform to address the issues relating to conservation. “There are several houses that are centuries old, and people are unaware of the heritage. I believe such heritage walks would create an indirect impact on the need to conserve our heritage,” he added. The Heritage Walk Trivandrum was incepted in 2013, and since then numerous heritage walks were held across the capital to explore its social, cultural and architectural heritage.
Bina Thomas Tharakan, the founder and coordinator of the Heritage Walk Trivandrum, is overwhelmed with the response to the initiative. “When we started, there were only 25 people, and now more than 7,000 people are following our official social media handle,” said Bina, who is a heritage consultant with a PhD in Archaeology.
“We have members from every age group, and we cannot entertain a large crowd. This is a repeat walk, the first of a Fort Walk series was conducted in 2016. Since then, HWT membership has grown considerably,” she added.