Gauhar Mahal springs back to life, courtesy adaptive reuse & facelift

Bhopal: Adaptive reuse after a heritage is restored brings back the structure to life. Discount more need for restoration of its interiors, Bhopal’s Gauhar Mahal, constructed around 220 years ago, is a demonstration of adaptive reuse and success. World Heritage Week is observed every year from November 19 to November 25. On Thursday, it shined again, hosting the most anticipated event of the year – 11th edition of Potter Market, where artists from across the country bring out the magic from clay for three days.

Gauhar Mahal was built for Nawab Qudsia Begum, the first of woman Nawabs’ who would rule for three more generations. The palace was lost in the mighty sight of the Upper Lake for decades, until it was rediscovered in the 1990s, as road got widened for the construction of VIP road. The flourish of Gauhar Mahal outshines the other palaces of the royal quadrant which includes Sadar Manzil, Shaukat Mahal, Zeenat Mahal, Sheesh Mahal and Moti Mahal. Madhya Pradesh Hastashilp Vikas Nigam (MPHSVN) undertook the restoration and its adaptive use. The mahal is centre for artisans to exhibit and with public eyes on, any drastic decline in the structure has been avoided. About 100 paces from Gauhar Mahal is Maaji Ki Haveli; the first unofficial palace of Bhopal and it was restored by MPHSVN around 2012. “Adaptive reuse was limited to government recommendations and a decade later painstaking effort at restoration has gone to waste. Taking advantage of the situation, where both the palaces were never deemed protected, multi-storey building has been made in the heritage core of the city,” said a heritage conservationist and consultant, seeking anonymity. City’s experience with closed door restoration has been suspect. “Heritage restoration does not mean the structure a white wash. Original attributes of a building have to be saved, it tells its story,” an Italian conservationist team who visited the Taj Mahal palace of Bhopal some years ago, had explained. 120-rooms, courtyards and a pond in the front has been sublet by Madhya Pradesh tourism to a private company. On the same lines, after restoration of 18th century Sadar Manzil under Bhopal smart city initiative the palace last year was given on a 30-year lease. Interventions within are not in public domain or on smart city portal. The last two might survive another generation. Privately owned and not restored, dilapidated Shaukat Mahal, Zeenat Mahal, Sheesh Mahal and Moti Mahal are in urgent need not for restoration, but to protect the monuments from becoming a commercial hub. “No other city would allow direct and brutal constructions along a heritage like Shaukat Mahal and Zeenat Mahal. “Even the Moti Masjid has been affected by commercial interests,” said a local resident, not wishing to be named. He pointed out at Auqaf-e-Shahi’s Moti Masjid where advertisement signages have undermined the original monument. The mosque is a replica of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, though smaller in size. The royal endowment trust is headed by Pataudi family.
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