Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Balkrishna V. Doshi was a member of the Master Jury in 1992, Award winner for the Aranya Community Housing in 1995 and a member of the Steering Committee in 1998. He sadly passed away today at 95 years old. He was one of the most prominent and famous Indian architects. © AKTC

U.S. Charge d’Affaires, Ambassador Beth Jones on Tuesday announced a $250,000 U.S.-government project to support the conservation and restoration of Paigah tombs in Hyderabad.

Ambassador Jones visited the Paigah tombs complex and announced the project to support the conservation and restoration of six tombs built in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Supported by the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), it is the fifth such conservation project funded by the U.S. Consulate in Hyderabad. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture will implement the project.

HYDERABAD, India, Jan. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) India in partnership with the International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH) and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) conducted a workshop on Urban Heat Island (UHI) studies done in Hyderabad, and to explore opportunities for implementation of mitigation measures in alignment with draft Cool Roof Policy for Hyderabad in collaboration with government and non-governmental partners.

Mumbai The demolition of the 70-year-old Prince Aly Khan (PAKH) building, Mazgaon, will begin on Tuesday after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) served them demolition notice on December 23

Hyderabad: The Ministry of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) on Thursday announced the restoration of the historic Badshahi Ashoorkhana.

Following the survey of the Badshahi Ashurkhana, urban development secretary Arvind Kumar stated that the Aga Khan Trust and the Quli Qutub Shah Urban Development Authority (QQSUDA) will restore the lime plaster and consolidate the structure.

Hyderabad: A Qutb Shahi monument Shaikpet Sarai will be restored for adaptive reuse under the aegis of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and National Institute of Urban Management (NIUM) by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Special Chief Secretary of Urban Development Arvind Kumar tweeted on Monday.

Shaikpet Sarai is the latest monument to be added to the list of heritage structures being restored by the Telangana government.

The authorities recently announced that Saidani-Ma Tomb, Sardar Mahal, Mir Alam Mandi, and Mahaboob Chowk Market (Murghi Chowk) will be restored.

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) will restore Saidani-Ma Tomb near Hussain Sagar in the heart of the city through Aga Khan Trust, a top Telangana official said on Saturday.

The tomb of Saidani-Ma was built in the 1880s by her son Sardar Abdul Haq Diler Jung, who was the home secretary of erstwhile Hyderabad State and also served as the director of the Nizam's State Railways.

The tomb of Saidani Ma, the lady sufi saint, is a state protected beautiful memorial with stucco decoration and fretwork screens (jaali).

Hidden passage from palace to tombs picture credit AKTC

For 10 years, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture has been restoring the Qutb Shahi Tombs. And in it lies the founder of Hyderabad.

Precariously perched on a bamboo scaffolding in the scorching Hyderabad heat one afternoon, a mason tirelessly chipped through 20th-century cement layers. Suddenly, something glistened through the dust. Intricate blue and green glaze tile patterns on the facade and dome of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah’s mausoleum, hidden away for centuries, peeked through. The dilapidated tiles are now a glimpse into the 16th-century world when the mausoleum was created.

The QuliQutb Shah Development Authority (QQSUDA) and the National Institute of Urban Management (NIUM) will be spearheading the project, MA&UD informed in a press note.

Hyderabad: The revival of the Charminar pedestrianisation project will be done with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) and ThinkCity, announced MA&UD special chief secretary Arvind Kumar.

Arvind Kumar said on Friday that a meeting was held with the general manager of AKTC Luis Monreal. “Economic integration of stakeholders/hawkers is integral,” said Kumar.

Your Excellency the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
Honorable Ministers
Distinguished Guests
Ladies And Gentlemen

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Let me begin by thanking all of you for honoring us by joining in this celebration – at this truly magnificent site. We are most deeply grateful to all who helped to make this site available to our Academy program. Your generosity will be a continuing inspiration to us all.

Press Trust of India New Delhi

Aga Khan, the chairman of Aga Khan Development network, arrived here today on a 12-day India visit during which he will meet President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Vice President Hamid Ansari.

Khan would preside over an inauguration ceremony to mark the completion of the restoration of Humayun's Tomb Heritage site tomorrow.

The restoration work at the heritage site has been carried out by the Aga Khan Trust.

The assembly to his mind represented all that was best in the Muslims of India. It expressed that awakening sense of their
fallen position after a glorious past; it expressed dissatisfaction with their present intellectual, moral and social position; and it expressed the longing desire to regain the intellectual freedom which Muslims enjoyed during the first two centuries of their era. Pessimism was not the force, said the Aga Khan, that had drawn them there that day. Pessimism in the Muslim world was nothing new:

New Delhi, December 2

In double joy for India, a project on holistic urban revitalisation of the historic Nizamuddin Basti community in Delhi, has brought laurels for the country in two categories in this year's UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

The project has won the prestigious Award of Excellence, and another award in the Special Recognition for Sustainable Development category, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said.

'Probably one of the earliest structures here; might pre-date the necropolis’

In the marvellous garden of a stucco work necropolis of the Qutb Shahi tombs, it is a deep stepwell of dressed granite. While curvy flowy lines and stucco decorations are the norm in the tombs complex, the stepwell is all about straight lines and minimalistic design. Recently restored to the way it appears in archival images from 19th century by the Department of Archaeology and Museums, the effort has been aided by US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation.

It’s 24 karat gold—the kalash , or the finial, at the top of the Humayun’s Tomb. The gilded metal glistens in sunshine. Just some steps away is a much smaller tomb. Its dome is dotted with wild grass. But it too is as intense as its celebrity counterpart. The effect is caused by the dome’s enigmatic blue, which is neither shiny, nor pale. The shade appears fragile, and one fears it might wash out during the rains, or under the harsh sunshine.