The World Heritage Sites of Lahore, Shalamar Garden and Lahore Fort, built more than three hundred years ago, have witnessed many vicissitudes of time. They were the worst victims of shabby treatment by their occupants who owned them after the Mughals(1526-1799). The Sikh rule (1799-1849) in the Punjab wrought havoc upon these marvellous monuments which were stripped off their decorative elements. The incongruous additions and alterations in these buildings carried out by the Sikhs and later on by the British(1849-1947) to suit their own ends, marred their beauty and changed some of their original features. During the early days of Independence immediately after August, 1947 they were subjected to indiscriminate use by the refugees migrating in millions from East Punjab that became the part of Bharat (India). The overgrowth of population attacked them on the outer sides with the mushroom of buildings. The Management has throughout been fighting the odds and has succeeded to greater degree in restoring them to their old glory by removing most of the superfluous structures and carrying out scientific conservation and restoration. In the operation of the conservation and restoration schemes the problems of paucity of funds and scarcity of artisans, and in certain cases inavailability of conservation material were also faced. These, however, had to be overcome through proper planning, importing some of the required raw material and enacting necessary legislation.

INTRODUCTION:

Pakistan although a young nation has a long cultural history which goes back to the Old Stone Age whose existence has been estimated to a fabulous two million years from now. The area precisely identified as the Potwar Plateau, is roughly in the time range of the 1st Glacial and Interglacial period of the Pleistocene Age. They then roamed about for thousands of years before progressing towards a life in settled communities of the Mesolithic Culture. With the advent of agriculture, their hunting stone tools got refined in the Neolithic era.

This was perhaps the beginning of an organized social living, which has always been making forward strides giving at different points in time sophisticated cultures and civilizations like the famous Indus Valley, the Gandharan Buddhist, the Hindu and the Islamic. Islam's first influencing contact with this country, and the whole of South Asian Subcontinent for that matter, was through the sea-port City of Deybal, now identified with Banbhore, a mound of considerable dimensions about 60 kilometres north-east Of Karachi. The next wave of Islamic Culture came from Central Asia and kept its continuous grip, only with exceptions of short spans of time, in this part of the world. During this period the Imperial Mughals with their peak period from 1526 to 1707 introduced a much refined socio-cultural pattern in society. The way of life so introduced was the pleasant assimilation of Iranian Central Asian and local traits and traditions.

Most of the architectural gems in Lahore belong to this period. Two of these specimens of grandeur and beauty -the Lahore Fort, and the Shalamar Garden - already stand inscribed on the World Heritage List. respectively at Nos 171 and 172.

MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF CULTURAL PROPERTY

The Department of Archaeology and Museums is the main custodian of the cultural property situated throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan. The Department came into existence as a result of the bifurcation of the Archaeological Survey of India at the time of independence from the British rule in August, 1947. This organization is headed by a Director General and has three main spheres of its activity, namely Administration, Exploration and Excavation and Conservation of Cultural Property. For the operation of the latest-mentioned activity there are two Conservation Circles, each working under a Director. Its Northern Circle of Archaeology, with its headquarters at Lahore looks after the provinces of Punjab and North East Frontier, and is assisted by its four Sub-Regional Offices located at Multan, Taxila, Peshawar and Gilgit. The Southern Circle of Archaeology operates, from Karachi, in the other two provinces, Sindh and Baluchistan with a Sub-Regional Office at Quetta.

The World Heritage Sites of Lahore Fort and Shalamar Garden fall to the responsibility of the Director, Northern Circle of Archaeology, who is turn is assisted by an Assistant Archaeological Engineer on the side of architectural conservation. The local in-charge of each of the sites is Archaeological Conservator with the back-up support of a Conservation Gang, Foremen, Supervisors, Site Attendants, Gardeners, Coolies and such others.

Another arm, the Antiquity Control Branch, was added to the Circle in 1984 to deal with the legal aspects of Protected Antiquity, an official term for monuments and sited declared as Government responsibility in an official Gazette. The Branch is headed by an Assistant Director having full support of a professional archaeologist and legal and Technical Assistants. In addition to having check over the illegal movement and smuggling of Movable Antiquity the branch deals with the encroachment and such other cases of the immovable protected Antiquity i.e. Sites and monuments, and attends to the laid down procedure for declaring protected an antiquity under the Antiquities Act 1975.

Here it may be dilated that necessary legislation has been enacted from time to time as the need arose. On independence in 1947 Pakistan inherited the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act of 1904. It remained in force for some time until it was replaced by the Antiquities Act in 1968 in an effort to bring law to the requirements of the changed circumstances. It was later amended ultimately giving .way to Antiquities Act-1975 (Act No. VII of 1976).

As empowered by the Act, a number of rules have been framed and notified by the Government of Pakistan, from time to time, concerning the management, protection, preservation and maintenance of Sites and Monuments and moveable antiquities. These rules, broadly, pertain to regulating entry of the public to the protected immovable antiquity, photography and cimentography on commercial basis at the sites and monuments, movement of antiquities and their sale / purchase or export out of the country, archaeological explorations, excavations etc.

After remaining the sole custodian of the cultural heritage of the country the Federal Department of Archaeology now encourages provincial governments in setting up theirs to share some of the burden of archaeological and conservational activities of the local nature. The guiding principles in the conservation of architectural legacy are the same as laid down by Sir John Marshall in his conservation Manual and informally revised partially by his successors.

WORLD HERITAGE SITES AT LAHORE

As has been said earlier, the city of Lahore boasts of having two of its monuments inscribed on the World Cultural and Natural Heritage List. The nomination No. 171 is the Lahore Fort, which in fact is an ensemble of about 30 monuments related to each other and located within the enclosing fortification wall. The origin of the Fort, like the city of Lahore itself, is engulfed in the mist of time. The hero of the famous epic Ramayana, the mythic Prince Loh of Suraj Bansi clan is usually given the credit of its founding. During the Ghaznavide period in the eleventh century we are told of the presence of an earthen stronghold in place of which Emperor Akbar the Great built a fort in baked-clay bricks. It then presents an almost continuous history of architecture of the Mughal period when at its zenith, representing Emperor Jahangir (1605-1627), Emperor Shah Jahan (1627-1658) and Emperor Alamgir (1658-1707). It also has specimens of building architecture of the Sikhs(1799-1849) and the British (1849-1947), though most of them of unpretentious nature.

The other World Heritage Site at Lahore bearing number 172 is the famous Shalamar Garden. Located at about 5 kilometres east of the Lahore Fort, Shalamar is one of the best specimens of the art of land-scaping introduced by the Mughals in the South Asian Sub-Continent. Founded on 12 July, 1641 at the orders of Emperor Shahjahan, the garden was completed in a record time of one year, five months and four days. The stepped garden has three terraces, the uppermost called Farah Bakhsh or pleasure giving and the middle and lower terraces combined known as Faiz Bakhsh or the bounty- giving. The whole garden spreads over a total area of 17 hectares, about two third of which is devoted to plantation while canals, pathways and other architectural features like pavilions ocver the rest of the plan. Four hundred ten fountains, in addition to five cascades and rare features of Sawan Bhadon play the delectable musique de l'eau.

Need for Conservation:

Since more than 350 years both the World Heritage Sites of Lahore have witnessed many vicissitudes of time.. They were worst victims of shabby treatment by its occupants who owned them after the Mughals. The Sikh Rule in the Punjab wrought havoc upon these marvellous monuments which were stripped off their decorative elements. The ruthless plunder of old buildings at their hands not only left them in only denuded and dilapidated condition but also affected their capacity to stand the onslaught of natural agents such as rain, fluctuations in temperature and winds.

The incongruous additions and alterations in the Lahore Fort as well as Shalamar Garden carried out by Sikhs and then British presented an eyesore on the face of the beauty of these monuments.. Especially the Sikh Rulers were mainly responsible for most of these pillage and also spoiling their delicate nature by erecting unsightly structures, crude framing of decorative arches and despoiling earlier decorations. While Shalamar became the camping ground for the forces, and visiting dignatories, the Lahore Fort served as arsenal magazine and refuge for the military. Here Makatibkhana was turned into Treasury and the Mosque and Diwan-e-Khas used as private chapels. The period of great anarchy after the death of Ranjit Singh saw the Fort being bombarded with canon mounted on the minarets of nearby Badshahi Mosque. As a result the roof of Diwan-e-Aam gave way in addition to damaging nearby buildings in the vicinity.

The British army erected several baracks and structures inside the Fort. Diwan-e-Khas and Diwan-e-Aam were converted into chapel and Hospital respectively. The Shish Mahal was turned into a residence of an officer and the large tank with fountain in the Jahangir's Quadrangle was filled up and levelled to make a tennis-court.

Mushroom of small and odd buildings came out at certain places of Shalamar Garden, and indiscriminately in Lahore Fort. The precious and semi-precious stones were crudely picked out of the exquisite pietra-dura work. The marvellous fresco paintings were sometime covered by plaster and generally with white-wash. Some crude efforts to restore the lost beauty, especially during the British period, also resulted in unsightly patch work.

PROBLEMS AND DIFFICULTIES IN CONSERVATION

In line with the character of developing countries the cultural heritage attracts only the lowest priority with Government that matters. Serious problems and difficulties are faced in execution of conservation to the time-worn human-plundered and long neglected monuments and sites. To overcome or surmount these problems relentless efforts have been made within the limited available resources and against the odds of unchecked population growth. It must, however, be admitted that the speed of deterioration in these monuments is faster than the conservation measures taken to arrest their decay. It has obviously resulted in multiplication of the work to be attended to with the passage of time.

Human plunder and neglect apart, monuments also fall easy pray to weathering agenets when time has already given serious blow to their shell and fabric. Humidity by far is the major enemy attacking the buildings through capillary action. The mushroom growth of colonies and buildings around these monuments has affected the natural flow of rain or even sewer water which now attacks these monuments and badly affects by accumulating through seepage in the thickness of the wall s, and the roofs of the basement chambers. It naturally results in faster attack and the resultant disintegration of the faces of the walls and weaking of the roofs. While the perimeter wall of Shalamar Garden has been badly affected by this process the worst victim of humidity is the Lahore Fort's wall decorated with tile mosaic of surpassing beauty. The chunks of fortification wall of Lahore Fort also give way occasionally to make the conservation works more complicated. In addition to the natural causes, some other problems confronted in the field of conservation of these monuments are as follows:

i. Paucity of Financial Resources:

The monumental site of Shalamar Garden and Lahore Fort when given in the charge of the Department of Archaeology in the first quarter of the present century were mostly in very bad shape. Human vandalism and gradual decay over a long period of their survival had left scars on their faces. During the early days of independence not much financial support was available to undertake any major operation. The work on restoration of earlier features bit by bit continued for much of the time. For many years, just a paltry sum continued to be allocated on yearly basis, which was hardly sufficient to meet the minimum cost of their maintenance. Since 1973 the fortune of these two monuments has been on the waxing as the time turned in their favour and Master Plans for extensive restoration, conservation and development were prepared. As a result of realization of the importance of the cultural heritage in the life of the nation, fund allocations were considerably enhanced. These amounts, however, soon fell short of the total requirements of each monument when taken as whole. Much of the utility of the enhanced funds was neutralized by the inflation that appeared between the formulation of the Development schemes, their approval and finally release of funds for execution. To defeat the adverse effects of such a phenomenon small plans are now prepared to cover a period of two to three years and cut short the lengthy procedural race of the High-amounting Schemes. Although much progress has been achieved with such an arrangement yet the situation is far from satisfactory.


As the cultural heritage is treated at low priority on the financial scale by the Ministry of Finance it became imperative to arrange other avenues to meet the rising costs of maintenance, conservation and restoration of monuments. With the sole aim to meet financial requirement of the cultural property National Fund for Cultural Heritage was created in 1994. Although not an effective impact of such a fund has been felt during the last three years it is expected to play its role and cover up the most fregile side of the practical conservation, restoration and development of cultural property.

As the conservation of monuments is a very special operation, different from the requirement of modern structures, artisans trained in these crafts are very much required to achieve desired results of conservation and restoration. The department of archaeology, since its inception, is employing a number of persons belonging to the families practising such crafts, and who had migrated to Pakistan at the time of Independence in 1947. As the remuneration was far from being attractive, most of them started quitting their profession in a quest to find their livelihood somewhere else. Moreover, the inconsistent flow of funds gave a feeling of insecurity of jobs. It was, therefore, not possible for the lone employer to retain these experienced craftsmen on permanent basis. Under such circumstances not only that the trained craftsmen left their ancestral profession but they also discouraged their coming generation to follow the old crafts. The situation would not have been so hopeless if more lucrative prospects had not been opened by the middle east's petro-dollar. The Department of Archaeology with its financial position has now again started collecting these craftsmen and is trying hard to offer them work almost throughout the year so as to keep them in the almost extinct profession. Efforts are also being made to attract new hands to undergo training to become competent craftsmen. There, however, still remains much to be done to solve this problem.

The Department of Archaeology mainly depends upon the trained and experienced personnel who in addition to being qualified have acquired sufficient skill for the field of conservation over the years of their service. These technical jobs are also not as attractive in the Department as elsewhere. Serious difficulties are thus encountered in employing new recruits who would fill the place vacated by old professionals. The resultant effect is very obvious. The recruitment of new technical hands into the service has become all the more difficult in view of the almost continuous ban on fresh recruitment for the last so many years. However, the Department now manages to employ and train such technical hands against the approved Master Plans and Schemes for Conservation and Restoration of cultural property. Although these jobs provide opening to the professionals yet, again, insecurity of these jobs being of periodical nature does not help 'much in keeping the trained persons. A whole new policy for the purpose is required to be formulated if we intend to deliver the goods at a reasonably high standards.

For the preservation and restoration of monuments most of the material used may be termed as of non-conventional class. The stone of different kinds and colours including precious and semi-precious material, kankar lime, surkhi etc. are not commonly used now-a-days and as such not frequently available in the market. Some material like Red Sand Stone is not available within the country. Sporadic procurement of this material from some odd sources bring with it many difficulties in addition to variation in quality, not to speak of high charges. To overcome such hurdles bulk supplies are sometimes acquired but experience has shown that it is not practicable on every occasion and in all cases. In spite of these difficulties and problems much work on conservation, preservation and restoration has been done successfully in both of the antiquities of Lahore, which stand inscribed on the World Heritage List. In brief these operation include major works in Shish Mahal, Naulakha Pavilion, Basement Chambers, Diwan-e-Aam, Eastern and Western Dalans of Jahangir's Quadrangle, Khawabgah Shahjehani, Diwan-e-Khas and Alamgiri Gate in the Lahore Fort. The over-growth of population had resulted in the mushroom springing of residential and commercial structures on northern and southern sides of the Lahore Fort. The enactment of law of prohibition of Development work within 200 feet of protected antiquities has helped in removing these structures and restoring the area into the green lawn and grassy plots.


As to the Shalamar Garden, we have not been as fortunate in the removal of encroachments which have come dangerously close to the limits of the protected antiquity. It is ironical to mention here that almost planned colonization on the three sides i.e. north, east and west of the Shalamar Garden has made it impossible to remove the buildings, even in the presence of a legal clause to this effect. One drawback in the law, however, is that the Department itself cannot take any action except going to a court of law for redressal of its grievances. This is why a number of cases are hanging in these courts.


The outer premises of Shalamar Garden apart, quite much work of conservation and restoration has been done inside the Garden, while plans are afoot to undertake more work in the years to come. The work already done includes relaying of terraced flooring, relaying of brick-on-edge pavements alongside the water canals, restoration of two pavilions, marble screens and pathway of the second terrace, restoration of hydraulic system after its having gone out of order due to serious underground leakage etc. etc.

We have seen that in the context of Third World Countries much work has been done to restore the two monuments, on the World Heritage List, to their original condition. Although the beginning of conservation work was not very encouraging yet with the dedication and commitment of all concerned executors of the master plans and conservation schemes and the labour force of worker have helped keep them at a reasonably high standard of maintenance, though there still exists much room for improvement provided favourable condition could be created and necessary funds become available on regular basis.