Saviours of Indian art are not always Indian. One such good Samaritan is Piero D’Angelico, a hairdresser of Italian origin, who has a salon on Mill Road in Cambridge.
Last week, D’Angelico saw builders busy at work, demolishing the old library, which until recently, was home to the Bharat Bhavan temple, the only place of worship in Cambridge for its 5000-odd Hindus. He was shaken.
He remembered helping his grandfather, a stonemason, and sculptor, to restore derelict churches. To his horror, d’Angelico learned that the intricately carved pillars made with pink Rajasthani sandstone around the temple’s altar would be destroyed during the building’s renovation by Cambridgeshire County Council. “When I saw these carved columns I knew that thousands of hours of craftsmanship had gone into creating them,” he told Cambridge Independent, the oldest newspaper of the area.
Bharat Bhavan was gifted to the Hindu community by the Council twenty years ago. The Indian Community and Cultural Association (ICCA) spent over £200,000 to repair Bharat Bhavan in 1999. Created by Indian artisans and shipped to Britain, the structure sports four pillars and elaborately carved arches that framed eight marble idols of the temple. Over a building dispute, ICCA was taken to court by the Council in 2018. They lost and an eviction notice was served. The ICCA is responsible for promoting Indian culture in Cambridge; it hosts school visits, talks inviting the entire community to learn about Hinduism.
Mill Road resident Rajni Padia, who fled mobs in Kenya in 1982—like thousands of his compatriots—moved to Cambridge in 1992. He told local newspaper CambridgeshireLive about the demolition, “It is about the 5,000 Hindus in Cambridge being denied their right to worship. The impact on the community has been dissolution and apathy. It hurts the elders the most - their excitement that used to surround our events has gone.” D’Angelico understands Padia’s distress. ‘This is sacrilegious,’ says he, calling the pavilion ‘a piece of Mill Road’s heritage’.
The community is now desperately seeking help to save the artwork, which according to D’Angelico is worth £80,000. The reason for the demolition is lack of funds. Bharat Bhavan being in a state of disrepair, badly needs restoration. But the Hindu community as its tenants is unable to pay the country council £300,000 needed for repairs. The demolishing company estimated at a meeting with D’Angelico, that it would cost £3,000 to dismantle the sculpture. He told the newspaper, “They really are beautiful and I think something that the general public would enjoy, so I hope that once they are removed I might be able to find somewhere that is willing to host them. I have a couple of places in mind to approach.”
The Hindus of Old Mill Road and their champions are racing against time. The structure which was meant to fall before March 29, has got a brief reprieve thanks to D’Angelico. He has created the GoFundMe page to raise money, since the Hindus have no temple left to worship in. Sadly, they have received only £570 of the £3,250 needed to save the sculpture. They are looking for more contributions.
Hope god is on their side.