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    ACSAA 2006 Heritage Documentation in Kerala-Libre PDF

    Uploaded by

    Nileena Sankarankutty

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 5
    American Council for Southern Asian Ar. rN 2 Features Let Us Preserve Our Heritage -- by Falk Reitz Two Recent Documents of North Indian Jain Painting ~~ by John E. Cort CAA Panels of Interest Calls for Papers Position Announcements Museum Listings Contemporary Art Fall/Winter 2006 * No. 66 Let Us Preserve Our Heritage Landmark Protection in Kerala: Work Conducted by the European Foundation for indian Heritage Monuments by Falk Reitz Freie Universitaet Berlin 1, History of the project before the founding of the European Foun- dation for Indian Heritage Monu- ‘ments (EFIHM) in 2005 With regard to the protection of historical ‘churches in Kerala, like in Ramapuram, ithas to be mentioned that Dr. Joseph Va~ huthanapally, a Catholic priest belonging 1 the Syro-Malabar Church and having obtained a Ph.D. in Christian Archaeol ogy from Rome, started a very important project within the Syro-Malabar Church (one of the many Christian denominations in Kerala), He received administrative and financial support from the Archbishop “Mar Joseph Powathil of the Changanass- ery archdioceses in Kerala to open a study, teaching and documentation centre in the complex ofthe Archbishop's House in Changanassery. This centre, innau- grated in 1996, is called the Centre for Indian Christian Archaeological Research (CICAR). ‘After obtaining my Ph.D. from the Freie Universitaet Berlin in Indian Art His tory in February 1998, I was awarded a scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations New Delhi (ICCR) to study the historical Christian monuments in Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu under the ‘mentorship of Dr. Vazhuthanapally. Dur- ing my fieldwork, I enjoyed the hospitality ‘and resources provided by the Archbish- ‘p's House in Changanassery. I had access tall the library facilities and I had the opportunity to teach laymen and theology students, In addition, we went on an ‘extended Kerala excursion under the guid ance of Dr. Vazhuthanapally. During that time, we prepared video documentation of historical church buildings in Kerala ‘which now fall under different administra tive units, including the Syro-Orthodox. CChorch in Kerala A first publication in summer 1998 in the Indian Express (August 8, 1998) with the title “In Defence of Christian “Monuments,” was intended to increase the awareness of the danger of a modern trend with regard tothe heritage buildings ofthe Christian community in Kerala. A number of vicars and church couneil members of different denominations wanted to express their new financial opportunities and their desire to update or modernize their churches through the demolition of the old buildings. One of the churches featured inthe Indian Express anicle, St. George in Angamali, ha to share this fate: it was pulled dovn and replaced by an unaes- thetic conerete structure which has limited Visual appeal. ACSAA 66 + FEATURES 2. Our relation to the Archaeologi- cal Survey of India and INTACH, Kerala chapter ‘Since the initial days of the project in Ker- ala I tried to get in touch with the local authorities of the Archaealagical Survey of India. They have offices in Thiruvana sthapuram and Thrissur. With regard 10 the protection of historical churches under local heritage laws I got the following response from the then Superintending Archaeologist (dated 15.12.1998): “Sir, with reference to your letter dated 8.12.98 regarding advice on the erec tion of Notice Boards at all the important churches, itis informed tha the Specific "Notice as quoted in your letter ean be displayed only in the protected monu- ‘ments of the State or Central Government. If you are very particular to protect them as monument(s], you may transfer them to the list of Central or State Department of Archaeology as they deem fit nn Let Us Preserve Our Heritage by Falk Reitz This statement is modeled after regula tions that were created after India's independence in 1947. The monuments ‘of religious minorities, like those ofthe Thomas Christians in Kerala, were put under the property management oftheir religious authorities (ie, the respec- tive Bishops and Archbishops). Local and central governments did not get any authority to intervene with any sugges- tions regarding their property. Ths legal situation creates significant problems for the safety ofthe architectural heritage in Kerala When local activist realized that neither the church authorities nor the local state administration can hinder the destruc- tive process in Kerala, they started public actions for heritage protection. They or- ganized themselves in the Kerala chapter of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage). Within the Kerala chapter there are again five sub-chaprers forthe different regions (see hitp:/www. intach.org/eh_south Kerala htm). The for- mer Mayor of Kochi, te largest tadition- al business centre of Kerala and so-called “Pearl of the Arabian Sea, isthe Head (Convener) of the whole Kerala chapter ‘of INTACH. Mr. KJ. Sohan is also the ‘Convener ofthe Kochi sub-chapter and is very active with regard to the heritage ‘monuments in the old Kochi harbour and ancient Fort area. Before the volunteers forthe 2005 cam- paign of EFIHM started their measuring ‘and documentation work atthe different historical places in Kochi, Kottayam, and Ramapuram, we visited Mr. Sohan on the Sth of April 2005 and have taken his advice. He welcomed us happily and told us that he honours our esteem to come from Europe to help with volunteer work ina field which is very well developed in ‘our home places - landmark protection of architectural heritage 3. The members of the 2005 cam- paign of EFIHM and our work At the end of 2004 I started contacting fiends with landmark protection experi- ence from my home region in Thuringia (central Germany). They got their experience through professional work inhistorical monasteries, churches and castes in Thuringia After working for ‘yeas in this region with a high density of heritage buildings they were very excited ‘o.come with their knowledge toa region deep down in the south of India and do the same there what they usually do at home: survey and measure historical monuments. Since 1991, EFIHM member Gerd Flach has run his own survey office for land and building surveying (please see htp/'ver- -messungsbucro-fach de/referenzen/ref10. ‘hum). Gerd also brought his own LEICA ‘measuring equipment from Germany to Kerala His brother-in-law, Thomas Fuchs, is working as technical advisor inthe castle complex of ‘Friedenstein’ in Gotha. Both have worked in the project “Reconstruction of Pars of the Medieval ‘Monastery in Georgenthal” for which they received the Landmark Protection Trophy of the State Government of Thuring ‘Thomas’ partner, Simone Jeron, also joined our team as photographer We started our work at Kochi on the Sth cof April measuring the historical syna- gogue. The next day, we proceeded to take photos and measurements ofthe Jeeva Matha Church Mattancherry (17th century) and the Cutchi Hanafi Mosque (established 1825) in Kochi. On the 8th of April we had a meeting withthe vicar of the Ramapuram churches to discuss our work on those monuments scheduled for April 9th, We spent the rest ofthe day in Kottayam measuring St. Mary's Syrian ‘Orthodox Church (so-called Cheriyapalli, established 1579) and the Jama Masjid im Stadttell Thazhathangadi (so-called Muslim Pall, establiched 1611) Below: Thomas Fuchs, Simone Jeron, and Gerd Flach at work in Ramapuram. Photo Courtesy of Falk Reitz 12 ACSAA 66 + FALL/WINTER 2006 ‘On April 9th we measured the Ra mapuram Church Hill. One highlight of ‘our visit was the opening of the reasure store of St. Augustine's Church. The vicar Rev. Fr. Mathew Narivelil found our ‘work to be of great importance and liked the way that we worked as volunteers for the congregation, He honoured us by showing us a number of precious objects ‘golden monstrances, historical palm leaf manuscripts and the famous golden chalice which the Spanish Queen Isa- bella presented tothe Rev. Mar Thomas arayamskal (1736-1799) whois bred {in Ramapuram. After this very kind treatment in Ra- ‘mapuram we were honoured inthe eve~ ning hours of the same day through are- ception inthe Bishop's House at Pals. The Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt was very ‘much interested in our opinion as to how landmark protection could be improved in his dioceses and invited us to come again to proceed with our work at other places within the Pala Dioceses. (On the 10th of Apri, we photographed and studied the large Hindu temple ‘complex in Kottayam The 11th of April was reserved forthe analysis of catuhsala houses (the traditional four winged Kerala hhouses with an open courtyard) in the Kuttanad region of Kerala, while on the 12th we studied the Thathampally Church (18th century) in Alappuzha before we re- ‘tumed to Kochi. In the evening ofthe 12th cof April we departed from the Kochi Insr~ national Airport to Germany. The data and ‘Photo material collected during these eight ‘working days in Kerala gave us work for weeks and even months in Genmany. And itis not over yet: we still have to present all the drawings and photos on our web site (www.efitm. de). At the Eighteenth Intemational Confer- ‘ence ofthe European Associaton of South Asian Archaeologists held at The British ‘Museu in London (July 4th-Bth 2005), 1 delivered a lecture on our 2005 campaign in Kerala and presented a poster with {general information on EFIHM., ‘We are thankful to the Freie Universitaet Berlin that we can keep our archives and office on the university premises. nad ition, we obtained office space in Kerala itself. Through the efforts of Dr. Va- ~huthanapally it was possible to purchase ‘plot of land in the Thalapulam Pan- chayath, Melampura, Kottayam District for ane of cur offices in Kerala We weld like to open another office in Kochi within the next few years 4. Our plans for 2007 We are going to translate the “Denkmalp- flegerichtlinien der Deutschen Bischof- skonforens” (Guidelines ofthe German Bishop's Conference — see htp:/www. «dbk delimperia/md/content/stchwoerter/

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