The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : A visual treat for heritage lovers

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Thursday, Nov 20, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

A visual treat for heritage lovers

Staff Reporter

Exhibition of rare sketches gets under way at State Museum

Over 30 sketches from 18th century displayed
The exhibition is open to public till November 25

HYDERABAD: If you are the kind who likes to turn the wheel of time backwards or want to know how Golconda Fort looked like in the year 1798, then head straight to the Andhra Pradesh State Museum in Public Gardens.

On the occasion of World Heritage Week Celebrations, a special exhibition of rare drawings and sketches of heritage sites of India was inaugurated here on Wednesday. Over 30 such sketches from the 18th century are displayed here.

Addressing the media, Jayesh Ranjan, Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, said that preservation of heritage was very important from the tourist point of view. Recalling that Andhra Pradesh was one of the first States to place regulations towards preserving heritage in the country, he said that lot of ground however, needs to be covered in terms of public awareness. “A link needs to be established between the tourist and heritage of the city. And we need to make our monuments more informative and organise many more exhibitions,” he said.

P. Chenna Reddy, Director, Department of Archaeology and Museums, said that the department with a long list of protected sites and monuments has been celebrating the heritage week every year to bring awareness.

“We are trying to increase awareness not just among civilians but also school and college going students,” he said.

Mapping programme

“After a certain stage we failed to protect our heritage. The heritage of the city is a mixture of a variety of architectural features but we need to go a long way to protect it,” said Veda Kumar, Committee Member, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

He said that the INTACH has introduced a new mapping programme which unravelled 750 buildings of historical and archaeological importance in the city.

Mark Evans, Senior Curator, Victoria & Albert Museum, London and Nagender Reddy, Director Incharge, Salarjung Museum were present at the meeting. The exhibition is open for the public till November 25.

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