Conservation of Humayun’s Tomb: Preserving the past for the future

On a hot, humid day in September, after six years of unrelenting toil, a treasure from the past, spruced up and lovingly restored to its former glory, was handed over to future generations by the Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh. At the inauguration, the Prime Minister said, "I would like to congratulate the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust on the success of this endeavour."

Ratan Tata, Chairman, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust; His Highness the Aga Khan, Chairman, Aga Khan Development Network; Prince Hussain Aga Khan; Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Minister of Culture, and Ravindra Singh, Secretary of Culture, Government of India, were some of the other prominent personalities present.

The treasure in question was not an artifact or a painting, but a majestic tomb complex that had fallen into disrepair through the ages — that of the Mughal Emperor Humayun. The first garden tomb complex to be built in India and a precursor to the famed Taj Mahal, going back in time a further 100 years, the tomb and its surroundings are a Unesco World Heritage site.

Centuries of ravages by nature, the weather and human hordes had left their mark on the exterior and interior of the monument with broken arches, tiles, and latticework; faded paint, motifs, engravings and inscriptions; and halfhearted, crude attempts at repair with dull grey cement.

The restoration was enabled by the efforts of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which partnered with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), the Archaeological Survey of India, World Monuments Fund, Ford Foundation and other organisations in a unique public-private partnership to restore the tomb complex to its pristine glory.

The restoration and conservation involved delving into the rich past of India to retrieve ancient skills that had died down in the present age, such as firing of the tiles used on the tomb and making lime mortar. Modern technology also came into good use with 3D laser scanning of the monument (a first in India), which helped to reconstruct the complex structure and surfaces of the tomb into perfectly accurate, three-dimensional AutoCad pictures, with each stone being individually marked.

The recreation of the original colours — shades of green, lapis blue, turquoise blue, yellow and white — used on the tiles decorating the mausoleum posed a problem. A team of artisans and a conservation architect from Uzbekistan (where the art was still alive) worked with the local team in experimenting with clay, quartz and various types of soil and chemicals to get the exact shades.

The pigeon dropping-covered domes and bat and rat-ridden underground tombs were cleaned and restored, eroded doors were replaced, and carvings and decorative work on the arches and plinths enhanced. Tonnes of cement used to repair and cover chipped surfaces were hauled away and newly fired tiles set in place with lime mortar. The walls were given coats of ochre and white.

While the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust was the principal supporter of the repair and conservation work on the mausoleum, Sir Ratan Tata Trust helped to improve the local school and provided training to the unemployed youth of Nizamuddin in complementary skills as tourist guides. The restoration project provided employment to skilled artisans and craftsmen, and provided them with an opportunity to refresh their skills and learn new ones in the production and use of lime mortar, recreating traditional dyes, tile-making and stone cutting.

 The project initiated lively discussions and interactions between conservationists across India on cleaning, preservation and restoration techniques; dyes; colours; lime mortar; and tiles. The detailed documentation that went into the project would now serve as a standard for restoration of heritage structures in the future, and for the maintenance of Humayun’s tomb and complex. The AKTC has expressed keen interest to disseminate the knowledge gained during the restoration.

The Unesco World Heritage structure now stands proud and elegant with the strength to withstand the onslaughts of time in the centuries to come, and the increased number of tourists expected to throng its surroundings after its second inauguration.

Compiled with inputs from the March 2012 issue of Tata Review This article is reproduced with permission from Tata World, the Tata group intranet. The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust is the principal supporter of the repair and conservation work.