Latest news with #DepartmentofArchaeologyandMuseums
Hans India
4 days ago
- General
- Hans India
Green message echoes at Bapu Museum
Vijayawada: The Bapu Museum here observed World Environment Day 2025 with a meaningful sapling plantation drive aimed at promoting environmental stewardship and sustainability. As part of the initiative, KV Krishnaiah, chairman of Andhra Pradesh Gazetted Officers' Joint Action Committee (APGOsJAC), and P Suresh, Deputy Director of the Department of Archaeology and Museums jointly planted a Rama Phalam (Annona Squamosa) sapling in the museum premises. The programme witnessed the enthusiastic participation of officials, staff members, and local stakeholders, who came together to emphasise the need for collective responsibility in preserving nature. Speaking on the occasion, the dignitaries highlighted the critical role that such small but significant acts—like tree planting—play in building long-term ecological resilience. This year's Environment Day theme, 'Land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience,' served as a guiding message for the event. The participants reiterated the urgency of land conservation and drought mitigation efforts in the face of climate change and environmental degradation. The plantation drive served as a call to action for citizens to contribute actively to environmental preservation. The event concluded with a pledge to continue similar green initiatives across other heritage and institutional locations in the state. Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Gazetted Officers' Joint Action Committee (APGOsJAC) KV Krishnaiah, and Deputy Director of the Department of Archaeology and Museums P Suresh jointly planting a sapling on the museum premises in Vijayawada on Thursday
Hindustan Times
19-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Haryana CM Saini inaugurates three development projects in Rakhigarhi
Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday inaugurated three development projects worth ₹20 crore in Hisar district's Rakhigarhi, a historic site of the Indus Valley Civilization. The projects include the construction of a rest house, a hostel, and a cafeteria at the Rakhigarhi Museum and Interpretation Centre, a proposed museum to showcase artefacts of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Saini and Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat who was also present for the event unveiled a booklet prepared on the archeological site of Rakhigarhi. Saini said that the newly developed rest house, cafeteria, and hostel will provide excellent facilities for tourists and students visiting from across the country and abroad. The 17-room rest house is equipped with modern amenities and the hostel comprises 13 dormitories for students' accommodation and a dining hall. Saini and Shekhawat also visited the exhibition organised by the Department of Archaeology and Museums. The exhibition displayed various Harappan-era artefacts discovered during excavations, including children's toys, terracotta cartwheels, lamps, terracotta beads, necklaces, and other objects. Haryana Heritage and Tourism Minister Arvind Sharma and Public Works and Public Health Engineering Minister Ranbir Gangwa were also present for the inauguration. After the event, the CM and the Union minister held a meeting with officers to review the plan to develop Rakhigarhi as a tourism centre,according to an official statement. Directions were issued to the concerned departments to expedite the construction work of the Rakhigarhi Museum and Interpretation Centre. They also directed that sheds be built at archaeological sites so that excavation work can continue throughout the year. They emphasised the importance of integrating the museum with the archaeological sites and preparing a detailed plan for lighting, parking, and other tourist facilities. Shekhawat said the excavations in Rakhigarhi since the 1960s have provided concrete evidence that a highly developed human civilisation once existed here. He claimed that the discoveries made during the excavations "strongly prove that India's civilisation is the oldest in the world". The minister expressed satisfaction with the Haryana government's efforts in developing Rakhigarhi into a major tourism and research hub for archaeologists and historians. The development work at the site is scheduled to be completed in various phases, he said.
Arab News
13-02-2025
- Arab News
Rawat Fort: A forgotten Pakistani archaeological treasure undergoes restoration
ISLAMABAD: Among the many forgotten relics dotting the vast spread of the Potohar Plateau in northern Punjab is the Rawat Fort, which stands as a silent witness to centuries of history in what is this part of present-day Pakistan. The fort lies about 18 kilometers east of the garrison city of Rawalpindi on the Grand Trunk Road highway and is believed to have been built in the 15th or 16th centuries during the Delhi Sultanate period. There are many legends about the fort's founding and its purpose. According to Pakistan's Department of Archaeology and Museums (DOAM), the fort, which derives is named from the Arabic word rabat meaning caravanserai, was built as an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and caravans passing through the strategic location of Rawat, at the crossroads of trade routes and a gateway to Kashmir and Central Asia. Some historians, however, believe the fort was built in 1036 AD by Sultan Masood, the son of Sultan Mehmood Ghaznavi, the head of the Ghaznavid Empire who ruled from 998 to 1030 AD and who had at the time of his death raised an extensive military empire that extended from northwestern Iran proper to the Punjab in the Indian subcontinent, Khwarazm in Transoxiana, and Makran. Other historical accounts say the fort was built by Sultan Sarang Khan Gakhar, the chief of the Gakhar tribes who was made ruler of the Pothohar Plateau by Mughal emperor Babar in 1520. Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Lone, a director at DOAM which is restoring the monument, told Arab News Rawat Fort was one of many hidden relics near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and its main attraction was a central courtyard that housed the ruined graves of Sultan Sarang and a number of his sons who died fighting Sher Shah Suri, the ruler of Bihar from 1530 to 1540 and Sultan of Hindustan from 1540 until his death in 1545. In fact, the area in which the fort is located is known as a key battleground between the Gakhar tribe and Suri. 'Tatar Khan had two sons, Sarang Khan and Adam Khan,' Lone explained. 'Islam Shah, who was the son of [emperor] Sher Shah Suri, when he fought Sarang Khan, Sarang Khan was killed in battle. Sarang Khan and his 12-13 sons were also killed.' Adam Khan recovered the bodies, the archaeologist said, and built a tomb in their honor inside Rawat Fort. Indeed, the structure has witnessed the rise and fall of many empires and military commanders. The building's strategic importance led to its inclusion in the Mughal defensive line against invaders from the North-West. The fort's location on the route used by Mughal emperors traveling to Kashmir for pleasure and strategic purposes also cemented its importance. In the early 19th century, Sikh forces led by Sardar Milkha Singh captured Rawat Fort, and under Sikh rule, the fort underwent significant renovations and expansions. But the British annexation of Punjab in 1849 marked the beginning of the fort's decline as the British no longer saw it as strategically essential. Over time, the once-imposing structure fell into disrepair. 'It has been used throughout the ages,' Dr. Tahir Saeed, an archaeologist and visiting professor at the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, told Arab News. 'During the Sher Shah Suri period, it was used as a port for the Mughals … The caravans passing through GT Road used it as a port. It was an important place from a strategic point of view … After the Mughal period, the Sikhs came here and used it as a stable or court.' RESTORATION The management of Rawat Fort shifted from the federal government to the Punjab provincial government due to administrative changes in 2010 after a constitutional amendment devolved power to the provinces. The transition period from 2011 to 2017 saw significant encroachment, according to the DOAM, until the monument was returned to the department in 2017. The fort, a quadrangular monument with three main gates, has several small cells that used to be rented out to merchants, and which are now undergoing restoration by authorities, as well as a mosque with three domes. The main attraction is the tomb of Sarang Khan, built by his brother Adam Khan who assumed leadership of the tribe and became the next Gakhar chief after 1546. 'We try our maximum effort to maintain the authenticity of our monuments and artifacts,' said Lone. 'You can do conservation, preservation and restoration. But we don't reconstruct them. We try to restore the material that has been used for the original construction. Wherever it is available, we bring and use it or if it is lying there, we restore it.' At the last stage of the restoration, he added, the ruined graves would be restored so 'that people can understand that there is a grave of Sarang Khan in it and all his sons who were martyred are buried here.' Pakistan has six UNESCO heritage sites and 25 which are on a tentative list, according to Lone. Rawat Fort is not on either list but when it achieves the status of a UNESCO heritage site, it would boost tourism in the area and also lead to better upkeep, he added. The archaeologist stressed the need for a sense of 'shared ownership' of monuments and historical sites by the government and members of the public to help preserve them for generations to come. 'This is our heritage. We all have to take ownership of it,' Lone said. 'Only if we take ownership of it can we protect it.' Saeed, the archaeology professor, also called for more government funding. 'The government will have to set priorities,' he said. 'They will have to provide maximum funding and continuous funding so that conservation work on sites, archaeological sites, monuments and heritage sites can continue.'
