Abstract 

In 2007, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture embarked on a major conservation effort at Humayun’s Tomb, Sunder Nursery and Nizamuddin area of Delhi. The ambitious conservation project aimed to conserve over 60 monuments and landscape over 200 acres, including the World Heritage Site of Humayun’s Tomb.

From the onset of the project, the inter-disciplinary team realised that in order to retain the significance of the monuments, the conservation effort required to utilise the incredible building craft skills used by the 16^th century Mughal builders – the stone carvers, masons, lime plasterers, glazed tile makers, coppersmiths, amongst others. The same craft skills were used for the landscape restorations and since 2013, at the Qutub Shahi Tombs in Hyderabad.

The talk will focus on the building crafts required and revived to restore these magnificent monuments, resulting in days of work by master craftsmen in undertaking these projects for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

About the speaker

Ratish Nanda

Ratish Nanda is a conservation architect and the CEO of Aga Khan Trust for Culture in India. He heads the interdisciplinary teams presently undertaking two major urban conservation projects in India: the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative in Delhi and the Qutub Shahi Heritage Park Conservation in Hyderabad. For the Aga Khan Trust, he was earlier responsible for the Bagh-e Babur restoration (2002-2006) in Kabul, Afghanistan, and the garden restoration of Humayun's Tomb (1999-2003) in India. 

His major publications include Delhi, the Built Heritage: A Listing - released by the Prime Minister of India, Delhi: Red Fort to Raisina; Conservation of Historic Graveyards (Scotland) and Rethinking Conservation: Humayun's Tomb.