AgenciesAbha Narain Lambah knows when to leave a stone unturned. That is a rare quality amongst restoration architects. Six years ago, she received a commission from the Rajasthan government to restore the abandoned and in ruins Kuldhara, the 13th century village near Jaisalmer.
Lambah's restoration brief had a line written in bold: Do NOT reconstruct the village.
The plan was to just conserve the ruins, undertake periphery development of the main village square and build facilities for tourists visiting the place. But what makes Kuldhara a tourist attraction? Over the years, Kuldhara has acquired the reputation of an abandoned haunted village - with many people claiming to have seen moving shadows, voices and other paranormal activities at night. One may or may not believe the folklore, but the tag of being a haunted place brings tourists to this desert village from far and wide.
"Many a time, conservation means letting a place be as authentic as possible. Kuldhara is still an abandoned ruin... the peripheral work was completed using materials sourced locally and by traditional artisans residing in the region," says Lambah.
The Kuldhara project was done in consultation with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and funded by the JSW Foundation. This is just one of many public-private conservation/restoration projects taken up across the country over the past seven years.
"It is heartening to see corporates stepping in to support heritage conservation projects. Earlier, they only funded causes like healthcare or education; now they are even using their CSR funds to restore or conserve historical monuments and heritage sites," says Lambah.
Data from the National CSR Portal showed corporate funding for 'heritage art & culture' has steadily risen from ₹117 crore in 2014-15 to ₹395 crore in 2017-18 and ₹931 crore in 2019-20. The allocation dropped to ₹65 crore in 2020-21, as corporate CSR spends gravitated to covid and migrant crisis relief work. Large and mid-sized companies such as the JSW Group, Tatas, RPG, Dalmia Bharat, Yatra Online, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, Interglobe Foundation (Indigo Airlines), American Express and Reliance Industries, among others, are taking the lead in heritage restoration projects.
Lambah's restoration brief had a line written in bold: Do NOT reconstruct the village.
The plan was to just conserve the ruins, undertake periphery development of the main village square and build facilities for tourists visiting the place. But what makes Kuldhara a tourist attraction? Over the years, Kuldhara has acquired the reputation of an abandoned haunted village - with many people claiming to have seen moving shadows, voices and other paranormal activities at night. One may or may not believe the folklore, but the tag of being a haunted place brings tourists to this desert village from far and wide.
"Many a time, conservation means letting a place be as authentic as possible. Kuldhara is still an abandoned ruin... the peripheral work was completed using materials sourced locally and by traditional artisans residing in the region," says Lambah.
The Kuldhara project was done in consultation with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and funded by the JSW Foundation. This is just one of many public-private conservation/restoration projects taken up across the country over the past seven years.
"It is heartening to see corporates stepping in to support heritage conservation projects. Earlier, they only funded causes like healthcare or education; now they are even using their CSR funds to restore or conserve historical monuments and heritage sites," says Lambah.
Data from the National CSR Portal showed corporate funding for 'heritage art & culture' has steadily risen from ₹117 crore in 2014-15 to ₹395 crore in 2017-18 and ₹931 crore in 2019-20. The allocation dropped to ₹65 crore in 2020-21, as corporate CSR spends gravitated to covid and migrant crisis relief work. Large and mid-sized companies such as the JSW Group, Tatas, RPG, Dalmia Bharat, Yatra Online, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, Interglobe Foundation (Indigo Airlines), American Express and Reliance Industries, among others, are taking the lead in heritage restoration projects.
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