Shahi Hammam from the seventeenth century wins the UNESCO Award for Asia Pacific for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage – ryan

Lahore, Pakistan, September 9, 2016 Shahi Hammam from the seventeenth century in the city of Lahore, which was awarded the Award for Merit in the framework of the UNESCO Awards to preserve the cultural heritage in the Asia Pacific region for this year, which was announced in Bangkok on September 1, 2016.

The Aga Khan Cultural Services Foundation in Pakistan, with financial support from the Norwegian Royal Embassy and facilities from the Lahore City of Lahore, restored the public bathroom that belongs to the Mongol era. The two -year project, which was completed in 2015, is part of a successful partnership between the public and private sectors, between the Aga Khan Fund for Culture and the Punjab government. The basic goals of the restoration efforts were to restore this archaeological landmark to its former era, such as a bath, through the restoration, detection and display of the remains of the original water networks, the sewage system and the fire room through archaeological excavations and structural integration, in addition to the restoration of historical ground levels.

The UNESCO Awards for the Asia Pacific region for the preservation of cultural heritage honors the efforts of individuals and organizations that have succeeded in restoring and maintaining structures and buildings of heritage importance in the region. The winners were chosen according to what the projects contributed to providing a clear understanding and application of various criteria, such as expressing the spirit of the place, technical achievements and appropriate use, as well as the project’s contribution to creating a good impact on the surrounding environment, as well as the cultural and historical revival of the local community.

It is noteworthy that 13 winning projects from six countries were honored: Australia, China, India, Iran, Japan and Pakistan within this year’s heritage awards. A committee of international restoration experts in Bangkok met to review 40 of the projects participating in the heritage awards, and they noticed the following about the Shahi Hamam project:

“Thanks to the adoption of a high degree of technical efficiency, the restoration of Shahi Hammam has led to a unique model of the huge public Mongol bath dating back to the seventeenth century. The team of experts, international and local craftsmen with brilliantly dealt with the major structural damage issues caused to the site, as well as the loss of tissue as a result of the inappropriate modifications, poor restoration and infringements. The investigation and accurate analysis work helped in restoration efforts, restoration, restoration efforts, restoration, restoration efforts, restoration, restoration efforts, restoration efforts, in addition to the inappropriate modifications, and the poor restoration work. As well as granting interest in architectural integration and maintaining murals and other decorative elements.

Shahi Hammam is the first example of the restoration of an archaeological teacher of its kind in Punjab, in addition to that it is evidence of the success of the partnership between the Aga Khan Foundation for Cultural Services and the Lahore City Authority, where the authority played an important role in mobilizing the community, raising awareness of the importance of the project and developing a sustainable media presence that deals with the necessity of preserving heritage sites in the draining city. The bathroom project also paved the way for a huge restoration process similar to other parts of the trained city, such as the rehabilitation of the “Minister of Khan Gok” town, in addition to the preliminary documentation operations of the UNESCO World Heritage site in Lahore Castle, where these two projects are implemented with financial assistance from the American and Norwegian embassies in Pakistan.

It is noteworthy that the pigeons were converted into a heritage museum that welcomes tourists and visitors from all over the world in the marked city, as well as reviving it as a place to hold talks, seminars and cultural and commercial events. Since its opening in June 2015, the bathroom has visited more than 23 thousand local visitors and 1,200 visitors from abroad, and has become increasingly the focus of tourism in the marked city, along with the UNESCO World Heritage site in Lahore Castle.

For more details, please call:

Amin Rumal

Coordinator of the Communications Department

Aga Khan Development Network

Karachi, Pakistan

Phone: (+92 21) 35861242

Fax: (+92 21) 35861272

e-mail: [email protected]

Heba Al -Hashemi

Coordinator

The Aga Khan Cultural Services Foundation in Pakistan

Phone: (+92 42) 36286371-72

e-mail: [email protected]

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It focuses Aga Khan Culture Fund On the material, social, cultural and economic activation of societies in the Islamic world. It includes the Aga Khan Prize for Architecture, the Aga Khan Program for Historic Cities, the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia, the “Archnet” website for electronic resources and the Aga Khan Islamic Architecture Program at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Aga Khan Culture Fund aims to improve the environments built in societies in which Muslims have a large presence. The Aga Khan Fund for Culture, through its local agent, is working on the Aga Khan Foundation for Cultural Services in Pakistan to revive the feeling of pride and identity through its interventions in reviving cultural heritage, which contributes to supporting social, material and institutional development.

The Aga Khan Cultural Services in Pakistan is working to achieve a comprehensive strategy of giving attention to community rehabilitation that precedes the restoration of any historic building. For more information, click here.

Consider Aga Khan Development Network A group of non -sectarian development agencies, established by His Highness the Aga Khan, with mandates to provide services in several areas ranging from health and education to architecture, culture, small loans, rural development and disaster reduction, enhancing private sector projects and stimulating historical cities. As a contemporary claim from the Ismaili Imamate to understand the social conscience of Islam through institutional work, the Aga Khan Development Network agencies work to improve living conditions and provide opportunities for low -income people, without looking at their faith, origin or gender. The Aga Khan Development Network also aims to work in the areas of economic, cultural and social development to provide options and opportunities for societies so that they can achieve and identify their development. For more information, click here.

About the city of Lahore Al -Washer:

The Aga Khan Culture Fund has been working with the Punjab government and the Lahore City Council Council, which since July 2007, has been rehabilitating the city of Lahore. The main obligations include the following:

• Establishing a strategic planning framework for the city of Lahore Al -Maswara.

• Establishing a database related to geographical information systems for parts of land and buildings in the city of the city.

Conducting basic social and economic studies.

• Study of infrastructure.

Implementation of the experimental project for rehabilitation of the Ghali Surgan Singh neighborhood, the UNESCO Prize for Cultural Heritage for the Asia Pacific region in 2014

Documentary documentation of the Minister of Khan.

• Rehabilitation of the northern interface of the Minister of Khan Mosque.

• Providing technical advice for the first proposal group (which includes 59 streets) and the second group of proposals (36 streets) from the experimental project for urban rehabilitation and improving infrastructure,