Officials are back on the Muziris trail, seeking to revive an old dream that lay comatose in the past few years.
The uniquely ambitious Muziris Heritage Project (MHP), which seeks to link up heritage sites, restore monuments and community spaces along the riparian North Paravur, Chendamangalam, Chittattinkara, Vadakkekara, Pallippuram, Kodungalloor, Mathilakam, Eriyad and Methala and liven them up with community-based projects and cultural shows from the region, is on the cusp of being revitalised and fast-tracked by the State Tourism Department.
As a first step, a working team of project consultants and officials is visiting the Muziris region, putting to technical scrutiny each site that’s up and running for upgrade as originally envisaged, besides surveying new sites for making it a participatory conservation tourism initiative with renewed thrust on cultural research and learning.
Immediate goal
Conservation architect Benny Kuriakose, who’s the project consultant, is leading a team of architects to prepare detailed sketches and plans while tourism officials led by special officer on the project M.V. Kunhiraman are dwelling on the administrative aspects ahead of the forthcoming meeting of the MHP board of directors at Kodungalloor on February 17.
“The immediate goal is to put the project back on an even keel and it will be done in the next six months,” says V. Venu, Principal Secretary in the Department of Tourism.
The team scouting around the sites has drawn up a host of alterations and additions to reinstate the original plan.
The Paravur Jewish Synagogue, one of the sites commissioned after restoration, was originally envisaged to have a sensor-activated audio track playing Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon’s poem on the Jews of Kerala when a visitor enters the courtyard through the grand padippura.
“Next to the tablet with Hebrew inscription on the synagogue should be its interpretation in English. Actually, there are two textual variants and the visitor should get both,” says Mr. Kuriakose.
While the area around the main structure was dug up to lay a walkway, a section of the foundation structure of the old synagogue, which was gutted in fire in the 1660s, came into view. The upgrade plan will ensure that this is protected and showcased with hard-glass cover. Same goes for the granite stones with carvings exhumed from the site, some of them resembling temple stones. They will be affixed on a walled structure. A library stacking literature on the Jews of Kerala will be readied on the top floor of the padippura, which had originally functioned as a Hebrew classroom.
The upgrade will also see if a walkway could be made from the back end of the synagogue to the nearby Paravur market – another vital site part of the project which, though conserved, badly needs rectification and upgrade.
Alongside, efforts will be taken to reopen the conservation laboratory, which was set up as part of the project but has remained idle since. “It’s a key facility for which equipment worth ₹25 lakh were purchased. The laboratory should be brought back alive for chemical restoration of the Synagogue’s ceiling with organic dyes and similar work elsewhere,” say the conservationists. Interactive audiovisual commentary, most of which is already in place, will give it finesse, as the idea is to relate to the visitor the socio-cultural life of the Jews of Kerala.
Another immediate priority will be to standardise and install signage, which we call ‘way finding’ to make the journey hassle-free and pleasant, says Mr. Kuriakose.
Weavers’ museum
While completed sites are set to get a fresh lease of life, with rectification and upgrade, a few new sties are being identified and integrated into the circuit, as it is the ecosystem of conservation that’s fostering the project.
The Chendamangalam Handloom Wavers Yarn Society, an apex cooperative of handloom weavers in the region, has agreed in principle to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the MHP to have a museum in their land on the banks of the Periyar, across the VP Thuruth Island in Chendamangalam.
“We just need to have a jetty constructed here for the MHP boat to berth. It’s an ideal location since the MHP tour is by water. The existing building of the society could be used for setting up different types of looms and yarns and weavers could actually work, demonstrating their work to the visitors. There could be a sales counter selling handloom products as well,” Mr. Kuriakose says, to the agreement of the society secretary Suresh Babu.
Swap market
There could be a similar public project at the Paliam market – an ancient swap market located at a stone’s throw away from the Paliam Kovilakam and Nalukettu, which are set to undergo upgrade – where traditional artisans from the region could showcase their line of work. “There are bell metal workers, for instance, who could give live demo of their work. Traditional thatched shops in the vicinity could also be restored to enhance the ambience of the area. A temple visit and organised regular performances at the Paliam Oottupura could add value to the visit. Maybe, there could be a cycle bay linking up the sites in the area as originally planned,” says Mr. Kuriakose.
