Kerala: Lecture on heritage conservation held

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘Kanthalloor Sala’ was an ancient study centre situated at Valiyasala in the Fort area. The centre had offered courses in 63 disciplines and attracted students even from other countries. The area got its name after the institution.
The story of the centre was told by professor N Ramaswamy during a lecture on the ‘Importance of Heritage Conservation’ held as part of an awareness programme for the conservation of the Fort area here on Thursday.
It was jointly organized by the Art and Heritage Commission and the department of town and country planning in collaboration with the department of architecture, College of Engineering Trivandrum.
The programme was held with an aim to educate people about the importance of sustainable cultural heritage conservation.
According to Sharat Sunder R, one of the resource persons, the appearance of ‘agraharams’ inside the Fort is changing over the years. This is because of the lack of awareness about the building materials to be used.
For that, they have also provided a recommendation for building materials that help to maintain the building heritage. At the same time, natural, cultural and art heritage should also be conserved.
“Lack of awareness about the historic importance of the structures and the unique techniques have resulted in the use of incompatible modern building materials. Heritage is not just the monuments; it is much more than it. It has to be preserved for the upcoming generations. So, it is important to increase its lifespan,” said Ramaswamy.
A few steps have to be followed to conserve heritage along with the development, including identifying the spots, setting up a heritage cell, using the heritage housing stock, incentives for those who preserve heritage structures, generating employment opportunities and promotion of tourism, the experts opined.
The two sessions featured topics, including the history of Thiruvananthapuram, Fort area, agraharams, present condition of the existing heritage buildings, general guidelines proposed by the heritage commission and residential building typologies.