- Ms. Lubna Irfan HSB-578: Architectural Heritage of India - PowerPoint Presentation

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-Ms. Lubna Irfan

HSB-578: Architectural Heritage of India

Definitions: Heritage is something worthy of preservation because of its national value. Monuments are a part of the heritage. 

A Cultural

heritage symbolize:1. A collective knowledge; 2. A Collective consciousness;3. A Collective imaginary

Introduction

Choay and Merlin (1988): Heritage term derived from Latin

patrimonium

(asset that is inherited and passed from parents to children). There has been a close relationship between heritage and nationhood, patrimonie and patria.

Anything that has come down to us from the past and worthy of preservation because of its value for the nation.

Heritage:

Sanchi

stupa

Taj

Mahal

Bihu

Dance

Raag

Bharav

Cultural and Natural:Cultural Heritage= Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artefacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations.

Eg

. paintings, books, architecture Natural = natural resources, places etc. Classification of heritage

Tangible and Intangible:Generally, the cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples is considered in two ways, tangible and intangible, with each strongly interconnected to each other, and to Country, both broadly or specific to a locality or

place.

Classification of heritage

Tangible: Tangible cultural heritage has a physical presence. Tangible heritage includes buildings and historic places, monuments,

artefacts

, etc., which are considered worthy of preservation for the future. These include objects significant to the archaeology, architecture, science or technology of a specific culture. Objects are important to the study of human history because they provide a concrete basis for ideas, and can validate them.

Their

preservation demonstrates recognition of the necessity of the past and of the things that tell its story.

Tangible heritage

Intangible: Intangible heritage includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts, food and medicine heritage and digital heritage

.

Tangible cultural heritage is commonly defined as not having a physical presence.Intangible heritage

Choay and Merlin (1988); Monument derived from Latin monumentum which is derived from

monere

(to inform or remind the memory.Monument immortalises by its physical presence a memory.All artefacts of any shape and size built for a human group to commemorate individuals and

events can be a monument

According to Ancient Monuments & Archaeological sites and remains act of 1958: Ancient monument is any structure,, erection, tumulus, place of internment, cave, rock, sculpture, inscription or monolith

which is

of historical, archaeological or artistic interest.

monument

Colonial masters tried their best to discredit and disregard the achievements of the Indian past in order to justify their rule and in this process they downplayed the Indigenous achievements in the field of knowledge, technology, science and art (including architecture). This led to the shrouding of the Indian past in garb of mystery and

ahistoricity

. Macaulay’s minutes on Indian Education argued that one shelf of british library would have the knowledge of the entire of Indian books.Politics of heritage

In a famous speech to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1900, Curzon explained that monuments ‘do not represent an indigenous genius’, but ‘are exotics imported into this country in the train of conquerors’This was a misconception as the monuments of Mughal past of which Curzon spoke had heavy borrowings from the indigenous art traditions

It was only in 1921-2 with the excavation of Mohenjo-Daro and the discovery of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization

that India’s rich heritage was recognizedPolitics of heritage