After decades of neglect, destruction, and encroachment, the Paigah tombs are now being restored by the State government and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, with funding from the U.S. State Department’s Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. The loudest sound at the Paigah Tombs is the shrill whine of a mechanical cutter slicing 2 mm thick terracotta tiles into small pieces. These pieces are then fitted into what resembles a jigsaw puzzle, guided by a design cut into a laminated board. “This is magical work. Our restoration effort begins with what looks like assembling a house of cards. Then apply a finely-ground lime mortar,” Ratish Nanda CEO of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) says. AKTC is carrying out the restoration work at the late 18th-century tombs complex. The restoration is slow, delicate, and painstaking. Skilled craftsmen work to create a one-foot-high stack of lattice, which is left to dry for a week before the next one-foot section is added, covered with limestone, and again allowed to dry. “It took us four to five years to practice on working out a technique that would match the original work. Hats off to the craftsmen who did this originally,” says Mr. Nanda, visibly in awe of the exuberant architecture and design of the tomb complex.