Architectural Conservation – An Overview

The International Legislations

and Heritage Conservation in
Pakistan
What is Heritage ?
 Heritage implies property or culture which is handed down
from one generation of people to another. Included in this are assets
produced entirely by people in natural settings or settings
developed further by people.
Tangible Heritage:
 It includes heritage in its tangible form such as cities, towns,
individual monuments, artifacts, jewelry and items of daily use.
Intangible Heritage:
 heritage in its intangible form includes language and oral tradition.
All these reflect the culture, norms, lifestyles and patterns
of a particular civilization
 Built heritage encompasses immovable property
such as archaeological or historical sites,
structures or other features of historic, scientific,
artistic or architectural value. Part of this
heritage is the ordinary dwellings of people in
villages and towns, for vernacular architecture
forms a physical environment of exceptional
coherence,
Why Protect : The Beginnings:
India: Before Partition:

 In 1861, the Archeological Survey of India was

established as an Institute for research, study
and preservation of cultural heritage.
 ASI has been active for the protection of underwater
cultural heritage in India.
 The staff was sent to France and Spain to learn modern
techniques under Cultural Exchange Program.
 Objectives of ASI

 Itregulates all the Archeological activities in the

country as declared in the Ancient Monuments and
Archeological sites and Roman Act, 1958
 Italso regulates the Antiquities and Art Treasure Act,
established in 1972.
 Archeology in Pakistan
 Archeology deals with field work which
involves explorations, surveys and
excavations. More precisely Archaeology
reconstructs the human past by studying,
analyzing and examining material culture.
Archaeological history of Pakistan
fundamentally focuses on the beginning of
archaeological activities since the
establishment of Archaeological Survey of
India (1861) up to 2015
United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

 World Heritage Sites are places of

outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage
of humanity.
 In the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972 in Paris.
[2]
Pakistan endorsed the convention in 1976, making its historical sites
eligible for inclusion on the list.
 Since then, UNESCO has designated six sites in Pakistan as World
Heritage Sites and twenty six sites are on the tentative list. [3]
 Conservation in Pakistan

 InPakistan, conservation of the built heritage falls primarily

within the realm of the Department of Archaeology, with
the maintenance of shrines being undertaken by the
Department of Auqaf, especially the Punjab Auqaf

 The Department of Archaeology functions under the

jurisdiction of the Antiquities Act 1975. Nationally, it has
primarily focused on the preservation and conservation of
historical monuments and the maintenance of museums.
 Listing in Pakistan

 The department has a list — of the built heritage under their

protection — of 355, of which 243 are monuments and 112 sites.
 Of the 243 monuments, conservation work has been carried
out on only 50
 Of the 112 sites, archaeological explorations and excavations have been
conducted on only 33.
 Heritage conservation, as the state perceives it, is therefore limited to a total
of 83 monuments and sites in all of Pakistan.
Role of Institutions:
 The Institute of Architects, the Lahore Conservation
Society and the Anjuman-e-Mimaran have played a
vital role in creating awareness about this subject.
They have held workshops and seminars, establishing a
case for heritage conservation through the media.
 The Punjab Special Premises Ordinance, 1985 — a
follow-up of the Antiquities Act, to save buildings of
historical, cultural or architectural merit built after
1857 — is an outcome of the pressure imposed by
these institutions.
 Our built environment consists of areas rich in historic
monuments and urban landscapes developed over the
centuries.
 The latter continue to be inhabited and often are areas with
the highest population density, providing housing to a large
percentage of the urban population e.g., Lahore's Walled City
houses 300,000 people which is 8-10% of the city's
population; Gowalmandi, Krishan Nagar and the Civil Lines
area house an equal amount.
 But 'modern' sets of demands and pressures are turning these
areas into slums: 'development' in our historic zones is
resulting in construction that totally disregards the original
values that generated the spatial patterns of these areas
Legislations in Pakistan:
There are two laws in the country providing a legal framework for the
protection of the built heritage.
 The Antiquities Act, 1975.
 Other laws which may be invoked for protection include the Pakistan
Environmental Protection Ordinance, 1983,
 The Punjab Special Premises Ordinance, 1985.
 the Land Acquisition Act,
 theFactories Act, 1934, and the charters under which the development
agencies i.e., LDA, MDA, KDA, etc. and municipalities function.
If implemented in their true spirit, these laws can provide protection
not only to monuments but to entire precincts or districts
Conservation Issues:
 Lack of resources and technical knowledge about restoration
results in poor quality conservation work:
 repair by untrained labour is carried out
 unsuitable material that reacts adversely with the original’
structure is used, all causing further damage.
 At times over-restoration is undertaken in an attempt to create more
what was originally present. Shrines and mazars are prime targets
for such restoration attempts. The work conducted in Ucch Sharif,
Darah Din Panah, and Data Ganj Bakhsh display absolute insensitivity
to the values of the original monument.
 Irreversible damage is also done when archaeologists unearth monuments
 or remove plaster as part of their work and then leave the sites
 Some of the major conservation areas in Pakistan
today form the centre of cities e.g., the walled cities
of Lahore, Peshawar, Multan and Bahawalpur.
 These areas are suffering from all the negative effects of
urbanization. Yet they hold some of the richest repositories
of cultural value, some in an advanced state of decay.
 Overcrowding, structures with unclear titles or those
housing tenants over extended periods of time is resulting
in limited or no maintenance of buildings
Research and Education

 There is a general lack of research in this field and no research

and documentation centers for heritage conservation.
Immediate Action
All existing work, research projects on conservation and
documentation of buildings conducted in architectural institutions :
the National College of Arts, Lahore, Dawood College of Engineering
and Technology, Karachi, and the University of Engineering and
Technology, Lahore — must be published.
Selected studies/projects should be put on permanent display for
the public at appropriate places.
Some Legislations and
Charters
 The Athens Charter (1931)
 The Athens Charter for the Restoration of Historic Monuments is a
seven-point manifesto adopted at the First International
Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments
in Athens in 1931.
The seven points of the manifesto are:
 to establish organizations for restoration advice
 to ensure projects are reviewed with knowledgeable criticism
 to establish national legislation to preserve historic sites
 to rebury excavations which were not to be restored.
 to allow the use of modern techniques and materials in
restoration work.
 to place historical sites under custodial protection.
 to protect the area surrounding historic sites.
International Legislations

 The Venice Charter (1964)

The Venice Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and
Sites is a set of guidelines, drawn up in 1964 by a group of conservation
professionals in Venice, that provides an international framework for
the conservation and restoration of historic buildings.
However, the document is now seen as outdated, representing Modernist views
opposed to reconstruction.
Reconstruction is now cautiously accepted by UNESCO in exceptional circumstances
if it seeks to reflect a pattern of use or cultural practice that sustains cultural
value, and is based on complete documentation without reliance on conjecture.
The change in attitude can be marked by the reconstruction in 2015 of the Sufi
mausoleums at the Timbuktu World Heritage Site in Mali after their destruction in
2012.