The Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s rehabilitation of the six baolis at the Qutb Shahi Tombs in Hyderabad, India, won the 2022 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award of Distinction for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Rainwater collected by these restored stepwells facilitated the replanting of the historic gardens, and provides irrigation and conservation of the site. Twenty million litres of rainwater was collected in 2021.

An ancient architectural form, baolis gained prominence in Western India from the 7th to 18th centuries. Though utilitarian, they are amongst the most captivating architectural structures in the region. At the Qutb Shahi Tombs in Hyderabad, necropolis of the Qutb Shahi Dynasty (16th-17th centuries), a 106-acre ensemble contains a magnificent array of gardens, mausoleums, funerary mosques, a hammam and baolis. These stepwells were always key to the irrigation of the gardens but by the 19th century, they had deteriorated, and ground levels were altered making the site barren.

This project was made possible through the support of the Tata Trusts and US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation and partnership of the Government of Telangana.