LAHORE: A three-day international workshop to highlight the conservation of the 1,450-feet long and 50-feet high ‘Picture Wall’ – a famous expanse of decorative glazed tiles and wall paintings — will be held at the Lahore Fort on Monday (today). According to Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), prototype preservation was carried over a 45-feet high and 30-feet wide panel on the western segment of the Picture Wall by Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) and the WCLA, involving the experts from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Sri Lanka. The three-day workshop is a follow up on the prototype. The Picture Wall reflects the highest standards of 17th century Mughal period craftsmanship and is one of the key reasons for the inscription of the Lahore Fort as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. AKTC and the WCLA and Punjab Government are jointly holding this event, which will bring together national and international expertise from various disciplines including conservation, architecture, engineering, material sciences, history, archaeology, planning, anthropology, and heritage enthusiasts. Notable policy makers, federal and provincial government departments as well as key donor representatives will attend the workshop. The purpose of this collaborative effort is to review the work carried out on the prototype on a panel of the Picture Wall and to generate professional discussion on a framework for further intervention. Once this workshop is concluded, with the agreement of all the experts the work on the remaining wall will be started by WCLA and AKCSP. In his statement, Aga Khan Cultural Service-Pakistan CEO Salman Beg said that country affiliate of AKTC, carried out preliminary documentation of the Picture Wall in 2015-2017 as part of the larger Lahore Fort Conservation Project.
Published in Daily Times, January 15th 2018.