One of the iconic buildings of Qutb Shahi era in Hyderabad, the Khairatabad Masjid, is undergoing conservation, which has been long overdue. “This is the first time in 68 years that I have seen something being done to conserve the masjid. We had water stagnation and seepage from the roof, but after the Department of Archaeology and Museums took charge, there has been no seepage,” informed Mir Ikram Ali, one of the residents who has grown up in the area.
Prayers unaffected
Regular prayers have not been affected at the masjid as workers have erected scaffolding on the southern side and are using staircase inside the northern minaret to reach the upper areas of the masjid.
“We had to drill through and remove a five-inch layer of concrete on the terrace as it was leading to seepage. We laid a fresh coat of limestone mortar after grouting with natural substances. Many of the finer details of stucco work have been affected and we are going about restoring them,” informed N.R. Visalatchy of the Department of Archaeology and Museums here.
The Khairatabad Masjid named after Khairatunnisa Begum, the daughter of 6th Qutb Shahi king Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah, is the apogee of architecture from that period.
Though it is surrounded by multi-storied buildings, the masjid on a 10-foot-high platform stands out due to its minarets that can still be seen from great distance.
The upper floor of the masjid shows the damage wrought by time that is not visible from the ground. The parapet wall, the shorter minarets, stucco finials and the embellishments are broken or about to fall out. “In the first stage of work that we took up before the onset of monsoon, we made the masjid structurally stable so that there are no leakages and the damage due to vegetal growth is limited. Now, we have brought craftsmen from other places to do the finer stucco work. It will take time to completely restore the masjid,” said Ms. Visalatchy, when asked about the time-frame for completing the work.
While the DAM is going ahead with the conservation effort, much of the finer work in front of the masjid is no longer visible.
“We had to add this additional roofing a few years ago as it becomes extremely hot during summer. The wazoo (tank for ritual ablution) was a deep tank which could not be cleaned. It now has a tile flooring and can be cleaned easily,” said Ikram Ali, pointing to the concrete roofing in front of the masjid and the glazed tile tank.
