World Heritage Day: A call of Historic monuments to regain lost glory

Lucknow: Every stone speaks its history, Every pillar has its own story to describe... Every wall of these monuments has a tale to narrate and the roads passing from each of these heritages show the changing picture of their existence....

They themselves tell you their importance and at the time let you explore all that you can. They tell you how the rulers built or tried to destroy them and within a second they would make you feel the just how important it is to preserve them.

Lucknow, boasted for its exemplary Adaab and Kabaab custom is also renowned for the perfect amalgamation of historical monuments and its architecture, hence acclaimed as the Constantinople of India. These gigantic structures exclaim their own story of Pride, survival and demolishment.

World Heritage Day is celebrated every year on April 18^th, the importance of which was recognized by UNESCO on 16^th November 1972. Since then the day is celebrated revering the beauty of the unique and magnificent monuments, globally, with an aim to preserve these vulnerable structures which have attained the status of world heritage sites.

The event is internationally proclaimed and every year there is a theme, this year it is ‘sustainable tourism’.

Lucknow has its own generous share of Heritage sites aging back to the different realms the city has witnessed. It has the fusion of Indo-Aryan to European lifestyle reflecting in its architecture. Grand Mausoleums, Bavlis, Labyrinth, Monoliths, Places altogether makes the history of Lucknow full of grandeur and opulence.

In slide ahead: Read more about these heritage sites...

These royal Bequests of Nawabs of Awadh have given Lucknow several reasons to take pride in itself but these structures need to be preserved against the storm of time. The construction of these monuments with soft materials like Red Lakhauri bricks and Brown lime and Negligence for over a century have made some monuments shatter back into the mud from which they were once sculpted, and still there are few which are helplessly waiting for the government to restore them before the disappearance of their entire existence.

The crumbling edifices of the past are calling out loud for their restoration, as It’s the responsibility of the State Government, Tourism Department, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Husainabad Trust to protect and maintain the great legacy of Lucknow But unfortunately they haven’t done much to restore the lesser-known but significant monuments of the city.

Recently the former CM of UP Akhilesh Yadav renovated the deteriorating part of Hussainabad area in the old city and redubbed it as ‘Heritage Zone’. Kothi Gulistan-e-Erum which was once considered amongst the most broken-down and heavily encroached upon Nawabi era structures, has finally regained its lost glory, courtesy the UP housing and Development Board (HDB).

With Rs 200 crore allocated by the state government in 2016 for the restoration of historical monuments, the fortune of these monuments still lays in the hands of politicians of the city.

In next slides: See the pictures of monuments from the city of Nawabs that have been included in the list of Heritage sites of the world...

Some of these sites are:

• Roomi Darwaza

• Chattar Manzil

• Bada Imambara

• Chota Imambara