The Unesco Asia Pacific Award of Excellence was presented to Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple here on Friday.
Unesco representative Moe Chiba presented the award to Cochin Devaswom Board president M.P. Bhaskaran Nair.
“The holistic restoration of Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple represents a milestone achievement in reviving a living religious heritage site using a combination of indigenous knowledge of vernacular building techniques and contemporary conservation practice,” Ms. Moe Chiba noted.
Even with inappropriate minor repairs and a century of exposure to monsoon rains, the project skilfully stabilised the wooden complex for use by local devotees and restored significant decorative works including murals, she noted.
Addressing the function, Devaswom Minister V.S. Sivakumar noted that the Award of Excellence for the conservation efforts of the majestic Vadakkunnathan temple was an honour for the State’s authentic style of architecture. Three hundred artisans worked for a decade for the conservation work.
The award comprises a brass plaque. ‘Award of Excellence’ certificates were presented to important stakeholders, master craftsmen and contributors to the project. The Unesco established Asia Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation to promote conservation of heritage in Asia and the Pacific in 2000.
The award recognises private efforts and also public private initiatives in conserving structures of heritage value.
Since the inception of the awards, India has received the Award of Excellence four times till date.
The honour for Vadakkunnathan temple conservation is the first time that the ‘Award of Excellence’ is reaching a south Indian State.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had been working on the conservation of the temple kitchen, the murals, the wood carvings and the south and west gopurams (gateways) since 1997.
In 2005, the Director General, ASI Delhi, gave permission to Venugopalaswamy Kainkaryam Trust (VGKT), Chennai, the donors, for its overall conservation, as per ASI norms.
“Hindu temples are designed and renovated in such a way that the temple is considered a human body, with life and energy.
“The complex systems of vasthu and tantrasastra are followed to restore and revive the energy and life of the temple lost due to age. Thus the conservation process involved both physical and metaphysical efforts,” said architect M.M. Vinod Kumar, who coordinated the conservation work.
