India

In Dehli, Rahim’s Tomb mausoleum stood in ruins with a risk of collapse until 2014 when the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), in partnership with InterGlobe Foundation and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), began conservation efforts. After nearly six years of restoration work, the tomb opened to the public in December. Similarly, after lying abandoned for decades, in 2007, a memorandum to redevelop Sunder Nursery (a 16th-century heritage park complex adjacent to the Humayun’s Tomb) was signed by the AKTC, the ASI and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. A decade of work has resulted in a 90-acre park dotted with historical monuments, 300 tree species, 36 butterfly species, two amphitheatres, a bonsai enclosure and a peafowl zone.

The restoration project of Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khanan's tomb in Dehli started in 2014 in collaboration with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and with the Archaeological Survey of India. 3000 craftsmen, who included stone carvers, lime plasterers, and masons had been involved in reinstating the monument. The tomb has now opened for public visitors after six years of restoration work.

The Taj Mahal was not the first symbol of love that was built in India. Nearly 50 years before, Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan, a poet and commander-in-chief of Akbar’s army, built a tomb in Delhi in memory of his wife. Now, after nearly six years of restoration work, Rahim Khan’s tomb recently opened to the public. The restoration of Rahim’s tomb is aimed at ensuring that its importance and beauty don’t fade with time. It included repairs of the mausoleum’s canopies, dalans, facades, domes, and the landscape. The diverse motifs that adorned the structure have been restored to their original 16th-century glory by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

In New Dehli, Rahim Khan’s tomb was opened to the public earlier this week after six years of restoration work - perhaps the largest conservation project ever undertaken for any monument of national importance in India. In 2014, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) started the conservation of Rahim’s mausoleum. "Intense discussions with the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) led to the approval of a final conservation plan. The monument was at risk of immediate collapse at the time,” said Ratish Nanda, CEO of AKTC India. Over 3,000 individual craftsmen, including stone carvers, masons and lime plasterers, are estimated to have spent 1.75 lakh man-days on this massive conservation effort. But Nanda says supervision is critical in conservation work, and at Rahim’s mausoleum, it was even more critical as the intricate ornamentation needed to be restored and the condition of the building required complex underpinning of foundations and stitching of cracks.

Six years of conservation efforts of the majestic garden-tomb of Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khana in the Nizamuddin area, Delhi, have finally borne fruit. The 16th-century mausoleum of one of the nine prominent courtiers during Mughal emperor Akbar’s reign, which is believed to inspire the Taj Mahal, has been restored to its lost glory and is now open to the public. With major structural problems, deep cracks in the crypt, first floor and within the dome, the tomb built in red sandstone with white marble inlay was under renovation by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture as part of its "Nizamuddin area Urban Renewal Initiative".