‘See it was there. Oh! now it's gone,' this is what will run in your mind as you tour the ongoing Hyderabad Heritage Pictorial essays 1975 to 2011 at Salarjung Museum, where photographs taken by Hans Winterberg and Thomas Luettge are on display. The series of photographs taken in and around certain important historical monuments in the city over three decades tell a fast vanishing story. It is also a photographic documentation of the architectural heritage. Titled ‘Golconda-Hyderabad, and architectural heritage', the exhibition is a comparison of photos taken in 1975, 1996 and 2011.
However, the history of the project goes back to 1974 when Hans Winterberg was invited by the head of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to take part in a committee for saving the monuments of Old Hyderabad. Winterberg suggested photographic project and “invited me to join him. In 1975 our exhibition was held which later travelled to many other cities in India,” says Thomas Luttge.
This was followed by another invitation to photograph the building and sites again and besides highlighting the beauty of the buildings, the question whether this heritage was properly preserved was raised. Eventually in 2011 as part of ‘Germany and India 2011-2012: Infinite Opportunities', the two photographers have tried to cover what has happened to the architectural heritage in view of the dynamic growth of the city in the last decade.
And whilst doing so, the photographs clearly show that heritage and conservation has taken a backseat for most of the monuments except a few popular ones. Not long ago, a photograph of the Moghul gardens inside Naya Quilla dated to 1996 shows man grazing his cow; fast forward to 2011 the same place shows a different picture. Another photograph shows the several hundred year old Boabtree or the Hathiyon Ka jhad , which we might not be able to see now.
The photo exhibition clearly point out to the sights and architecture which we have clearly over seen. The upper portion of the rocky outer walls of the Golconda has several stone carvings but the jungle growing around them tells us in what condition we are preserving our heritage.
Thomas Luttge points out to a photograph of a structure at Shaikhpet that resembles the tombs and says, “we don't know what are they. According to locals those structures are not tombs but prototypes for the Nizam to see who the tombs would look like. In that day and age those might have been used as a blue print.”
As one goes through the exhibition it will only be a shock to learn the rate at which important palaces are vanishing.
Examples could be the Mushk Mahal and Nau Mahal. In a span of 30 years these places first changed to look different with colours and modern renovation work, eventually they vanished and was replaced by modern cement building.
The exhibition, a joint venture of the Salar Jung Museum, INTACH Hyderabad and Goethe-Zentrum, is on till February 22 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
