Bringing alive Sanskarnagri’s glorious past

Vadodara: Gujarat’s cultural capital is keeping its date with the national heritage week with a series of heritage walks, exhibitions, talks and events for people to enjoy the nostalgia of the bygone era.
Celebrating the 507th anniversary year of the city, the Vadodara People’s Heritage Festival kicked off on Sunday with photography and heritage walk at world heritage site – Champaner-Pavagadh neighbouring the city and the walks to Tambekar wada and another between Hajira to Madhav Baug.

The photography and heritage walk at Champaner-Pavagadh with Rahul Gajjar was conducted for both photography and heritage enthusiasts as the walk included a basic photography orientation for the new learners.

Art historian Dhara Mayawat also guided heritage enthusiasts including some foreign participants to the narrow lanes of the old city including a visit to the Jain temple at Mama ni pole and house museum of Atul Shah at Raopura who has a collection of over 450 water pots apart from panels and artefacts dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi.

Art historian Chandrashekhar Patil guided a group of participants to more than 400-year-old Hajira, the only Moghul monument in the city, which is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The heritage walk from Hajira included a visit to the Koyli Vav, the old bungalows in the ONGC campus and ended at Madhav Baug, an elegant Gaekwadi style bungalow, where the descendants of the original family still live.

The day also marked a lecture that was delivered by Padma Shri recipient Dr Ganesh Devy who spoke on the ‘The future of memory: humans, heritage and aphasia’ which was organised by Heritage Trust as part of its ‘Viraasat lecture series’.