Lahore, Pakistan, 9 September 2016 - The Conservation of the 17th Century Shahi Hammam in the Walled City of Lahore has received the Award of Merit in this year’s UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, announced in Bangkok on 1st September 2016. The Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (AKCSP), with financial support of the Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE) and facilitation from the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), carried out the conservation of the Mughal-era public bathhouse. The two-year project which was completed in 2015 is part of a successful public-private partnership between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Government of Punjab. The primary objectives of the conservation effort were to re-establish the monument as a bathhouse through the exposure, conservation and display of the remains of the original waterworks, drainage and hypocaust system through archaeological excavation, structural consolidation and restoration of the historic floor levels.

The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation programme recognises the efforts of private individuals and organisations that have successfully restored and conserved structures and buildings of heritage value in the region. The winners were selected on the basis of the extent to which the projects reflected a clear understanding and application of various criteria, such as the articulation of the spirit of place, technical achievement, appropriate use or adaption, and the project’s contribution to the surrounding environment as well as the local community’s cultural and historical continuity. A total of 13 winning projects from six countries – Australia, China, India, Iran, Japan and Pakistan – have been recognised in this year’s Heritage Awards. A panel of international conservation experts met in Bangkok to review the 40 Heritage Awards entries, and observed the following about the Shahi Hammam project:

“Undertaken with a high degree of technical proficiency, the restoration of Shahi Hammam has safeguarded a unique example of the monumental 17th-century Mughal public bathhouse. The team of international and local experts and artisans adeptly addressed the issues of significant structural damage and loss of fabric resulting from inappropriate alterations, poor conservation work and encroachment. Careful investigation and analysis informed the conservation effort, including architectural consolidation and the preservation of frescos and other decorative elements.

The Shahi Hammam is the first example of a monument conservation of its kind in Punjab, and is evidence of the success of the partnership between AKCSP and WCLA. The latter played a significant role in social mobilisation, raising awareness about the project and developing a sustained media presence around heritage conservation in the Walled City. The Hammam project has also paved the way for similar monumental conservation in other parts of the Walled City, like the rehabilitation of the Chowk Wazir Khan, and preparatory documentation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Lahore Fort; both these projects are being carried out with financial assistance from the US and Norwegian Embassies in Pakistan.

The Hammam has now been established as a heritage museum-site that welcomes tourists and visitors from all over the world into the Walled City, and is kept alive as a venue for talks, seminars and cultural and corporate events. Since its opening in June 2015, the Hammam has been visited by upwards of 23,000 local and 1,200 international visitors, and is increasingly becoming the centrepiece of tourism in the Walled City, along with the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Lahore Fort.

For more details, contact:

Amin Rammal
Communications Coordinator
Aga Khan Development Network
Karachi, Pakistan
Telephone: (+92 21) 35861242
Fax: (+92 21) 35861272
Email: amin.rammal@akcpk.org

Heba Hashmi
Coordinator
Aga Khan Culture Service - Pakistan
Telephone: (+92 42) 36286371-72
Email: heba.hashmi@akdn.org

NOTES:

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) focuses on the physical, social, cultural and economic revitalisation of communities in the Muslim world. It includes the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme, the Music Initiative in Central Asia, the on-line resource ArchNet and the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The purpose of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture is the improvement of built environments in societies where Muslims have a significant presence. The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, through its local company Aga Khan Cultural Service - Pakistan (AKCS-P), engaged in reviving pride and identity through interventions in cultural heritage that supported social, physical and institutional development. AKCS-P works on a comprehensive strategy whereby community rehabilitation precedes restoration of any landmark building. For more details, go to http://www.akdn.org/aktc.asp.

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a group of non-denominational development agencies, created by His Highness the Aga Khan, with complementary mandates ranging from health and education to architecture, culture, microfinance, rural development, disaster reduction, the promotion of private-sector enterprise and the revitalisation of historic cities. As a contemporary endeavour of the Ismaili Imamat to realise the social conscience of Islam through institutional action, the AKDN agencies work to improve living conditions and opportunities for the poor, without regard to their faith, origin or gender. Working in the fields of economic, cultural and social development, AKDN aims to provide choices and opportunities to communities so that they can realise and determine their own development. For further information please visit www.akdn.org.

About the Walled City of Lahore:

AKTC has been working with the Government of Punjab and WCLA since July 2007 on the rehabilitation of the Walled City of Lahore. The major engagements include:

• Walled City of Lahore Strategic Planning Framework
• GIS database of land parcels and buildings in the Walled City
• Baseline socio-economic studies
• Infrastructure study
• Gali Surjan Singh Pilot Neighbourhood Rehabilitation Project, recipient of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Cultural Heritage Award in 2014
• Detailed documentation of the Wazir Khan Mosque
• Rehabilitation of the Wazir Khan Mosque’s northern façade
• Technical advice was provided for Package 1 (comprising 59 streets) and Package 2 (36 streets) of the Pilot Urban Rehabilitation and Infrastructure Improvement Project