The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : UNESCO to check out Golconda

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Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

UNESCO to check out Golconda

K. Venkateshwarlu

Fort and Qutb Shahi tombs to be assessed for World heritage status

— Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Standing tall: The Golconda Fort, whose nomination has been pending with UNESCO for more than a decade.

HYDERABAD: In a move that could give a boost to conservation and tourism, a top official of UNESCO is in the city to visit two historic landmarks, Golconda fort and Qutb Shahi tombs and explore the chances of recognising them as World Heritage Sites (WHS).

The official, Minja Yang, director of UNESCO, is on an invitation from P. Chenna Reddy, director of Archaeology department that is making all out efforts this time to secure the status. The nomination for Golconda fort has been pending with the UNESCO, for nearly a decade now, figuring fourth in its tentative lists, while a fresh bid is being made in the case of Qutb Shahi tombs.

“We are hopeful of getting the recognition that will pitchfork Hyderabad as a must-visit destination for discerning tourists from different countries”, Dr. Reddy said. The UNESCO director’s visit, the first in several years, would help in better appreciation of the steps taken by the Archaeology Survey of India (that takes care of the Fort) and the department (the tombs are under its control) to conserve the monuments.

Even as the fort inches its way towards bagging the WHS tag, the Archaeology department is making a pitch for the royal mausoleums cluster saying it fulfils all the criteria laid down for its nominati—on. Apart from their historical and archaeological significance, these monuments were in a good state of preservation and reasonably well-protected.

The tombs complex had good buffer zone with absolutely no encroachment, a problem that has attained menacing proportion in the fort’s zone with authorities looking the other way.

In fact a plethora of encroachments in the prohibited as well as regulated zones seem to have become a stumbling block in the fort securing the WHS status. A joint and concerted drive by the departments concerned in counselling the occupants is what is required.

Located on a 400 ft high hill, Golconda is counted among the biggest fortresses of yore in the Deccan Plateau with a seven-kilometre-long fort wall containing eight gates and 87 bastions mounted with heavy cannons. These bastions along with three lines of powerful fortification walls one within another, made it a near impregnable fort.

Another unique feature was that six of the seven kings of the Qutb Shahi dynasty who ruled from Golconda and a left lasting impression on the land and people, were laid to rest in massive-domed mausoleums, each an architectural marvel replete with crenelations, friezes and tile work.

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