With Pics
Prayagraj: As the Vizianagram hall of the science faculty of Allahabad University is inaugurated on Thursday after restoration, few would be knowing that the magnificent blue dome of the building has been resurrected after an invaluable piece of the original tile was provided by TOI to Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), the agency which handled the restoration work.
TOI had in its possession a three-fourth piece of the original tile of the dome found in the lawn of Prof Manas Mukul Das, a former faculty member of AU department English. “The tiles on the dome of the Vizianagram Hall were glazed by craftsmen belonging to Rajasthan guilds which for several generations had preserved the secrets of the art of making glazed tiles for architectural decoration,” he said.
It was after the request of RITES, the company entrusted with the task of restoration, the tile was provided to it to finalise the exact colour of the tile placed at the dome. The officials had inspected several specimens, prepared by the experts from Mumbai, but none matches the piece of original tile which was with TOI.
“The main problem confronting us was the colour of the original tile, but the problem was solved by the only piece given to us by the TOI for which we consulted the world famous RAL Deutsches Institut für Gütesicherung und Kennzeichnung, Germany which defined the colour of the tile as turquoise blue,” said project manager RITES, Rajeev Ranjan.
Thereafter, a Delhi-based company was given the order for making the handmade tiles which were fixed on the curved dome.
“The old surface over the dome was completely removed after which double layered waterproofing was done. Experts then applied a special adhesive over which the tiles were carefully placed and 3mm interspace left for probable expansion of tiles by heat is filled by grouting,” said the official.
“The specimen of the original tile was of immense help for the restoration work as after trial and error methodology, the experts made an exact replica of the tile. Moreover, as the specimen was also along the plaster, we easily identified the material used to plaster the dome which held the tiles for many decades,” said director of Savani Constructions private limited, the firm which was involved in restoration work supervised by RITES.
Earlier, Ajoy Chakravarti, the great-grandson of Rai Bahadur Bipin Bihari Chakravarti, government executive engineer who was in charge of the construction work had told TOI, “My great-grandfather had told us that the theme used in the dome was bringing heaven to earth’ and that’s why the blue turquoise was used. It took around a month and half for the 85 craftsmen of Jaipur to polish those tiles which were processed four times, i.e., glazed and put in fire and the process was done four times for each tile.”
White portion of egg was used to polish the tiles for which 30, 000 eggs were used, and the craftsmen used to eat the rest of York, he added.
The restoration work included making the entire building ‘all weather proof’ after which restoring the paintings, wood work, walls, glass pan, etc., was taken up, all resembling the original work. The agency has also restored the famous fresco painting on the ceiling of the hall, informed Ranjan.