Daily Times

LAHORE: A three-day International Workshop on the Picture Wall of the Lahore Fort concluded at the Lahore Fort on Wednesday. The purpose of the workshop was to assess and discuss the preservation work carried out on the Picture Wall.

A 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 Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) involving the experts from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Sri Lanka. This preservation process was started in 2016 and completed in December 2017.

AKCSP CEO Salman Beg, WCLA Director General Kamran Lashari, Director Historic Cities Programme AKTC Cameron Rashti, Director Partnerships and Development AKTC Jurjen Vandertas, Senior Conservation Officer AKTC Christophe Bouleau , Assistant Professor LUMS Dr Nadhra Shahbaz, AKCSP Manager Conservation and Design Wajahat Ali, Didier Repellin Inspector General Historic Monuments Lyon France, Conservator-Restorer of Architectural Surfaces Italy Werner Schmid, Painting Conservator Srilanka Udaya Hewawasam, AKTC Senior Architectural and Planning Consultant Masood Khan, AKCSP Conservation Chemist Zeina Naseer, Director Post Graduate Institute of Archaeology University of Kelaniya Srilanka Jagath Weerasinghe, Director of the Museé National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet Sophie Makariou, President International Council for Monuments and Sites – Pakistan Fauzia Qureshi, , Secretary Archaeology Punjab Aaamir Jan, AKTC General Manager Luis Monreal, WCLA Director Conservation and Urban Planning Najam Us Saqib and other speakers have participated in the three days workshop.

During the three days of the workshop a brief introduction of future plans for Lahore Fort including ‘Picture Wall’ was given, an overall presentation scheme for the Picture Wall with some details of the scientific aspects of conservation were explained. Experiences of the conservators were shared with the participants. Conceptual and philosophical framework, methodology and procedures adopted for this preservation were discussed.

The participants were given a tour of Lahore Fort in electric cars, they also visited Royal Kitchen, quadrangles and other parts of Fort. Introduction to the multi-disciplinary effort and documentation approach for the Lahore Fort and the Picture Wall was explained and discussed. Conservation approach for the Picture Wall in the context of Lahore Fort- the prototype conservation project Principles and Methodologies for the Conservation of the decorated surfaces were also shared.

Picture wall is the world’s largest picture wall which is 1,450-feet long and 50-feet high. It is a famous expanse of decorative glazed tile and wall painting. The Picture Wall reflects the highest standards of 17h century Mughal period craftsmanship and is one of the key reasons for the inscription of the Lahore Fort as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) and the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), Government of Punjab jointly held this workshop, which brought 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.

The purpose of this collaborative effort was 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.

CEO AKCSP Salman Beg I am happy that the work carried out on the grand picture wall’s panel was appreciated by the experts. The documentation and other details of the works were discussed and shared in the workshop.

The selected panel reflects all types of surface decorations found on the Picture Wall. Work on the prototype was carried out between February and December of 2017 and included six international missions to Lahore comprising microbiologists, surface conservators and material scientists from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Sri Lanka.

WCLA Director General Kamran Lashari It was a great opportunity for all the architects and conservationists that they were able to share their views and approaches towards the conservation of this world class wall.

He said I am grateful to AKTC and AKCSP who have helped WCLA with their expertise and technicalities because this project would not have been possible without them.

He further said that the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany contributed generous grant assistance for the prototype conservation of the panel. Prior documentation work was made possible with financial support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy. Soon we will be moving to preserve the entire picture wall keeping in view all the suggestions and methodologies explained by the foreign and local experts, DG added.

Published in Daily Times, January 18^th 2018.