Vijaynath Shenoy, renowned heritage conservationist and antiques collector, passed away at his house here on Thursday. He was 83.
He is survived by his wife, son, daughter, their spouses, and grandchildren. According to family members, the funeral will be held on Friday.
Shenoy is known for being the creator of ‘Hasta Shilpa,’ a house of traditional style rebuilt using the relics of demolished old houses collected in the 1970s and 1980s. The house was built in 1984. Though Shenoy had intended it to be his personal residence, the constant stream of visitors persuaded him to dedicate it as a walkthrough museum.
Later, Shenoy founded the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village Trust, and created the famous Heritage Village on a seven-acre plot here. He restored 26 houses that were centuries old at the Heritage Village.
It also houses museums devoted to crafts, Tanjore paintings, objects from the South Indian mercantile trade, and Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings. It was opened to the public in May last year.
Shenoy was earlier employed with SyndicateBank and his initial foray into the field of heritage conservation and antiques collection was self-funded. His wife, Manjula, who worked in the same bank, helped him.
However, the bigger project, Heritage Village, was built with public funding, including aid from the Finnish and Norwegian embassies. The elegant old structures restored here include a 400-year-old Bunt Guthu House and the 500-year-old Kamal Mahal (which once belonged to a vassal king of the Vijayanagar empire).
During his lifetime, Shenoy won several awards including the State-level Rajyotsava award in 2003 and the South Asia Travel Tourism Exchange (SATTE) award for ‘Rural Crafts Heritage Tourism-2011’.
