Excellent Hansda
Student of B. Arch, Department of Architecture & Planning, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. ORCID: 0000-0003-4938-9945. Email: ehansda@ar.iitr.ac.in
Volume 2, Number 3, 2018 I Full Text PDF
Abstract
Bhimakali Temple Complex is a popular tourist attraction in the Shimla Hills. The temple complex and the dwellings surrounding are an interesting example of an architecture style developed based on the local constraints of the area. Nearly 800 years earlier, a palace was built housing a temple, by the king of the Bushahr Dynasty in Sarahan, a small town in Shimla District. Along with time, buildings were made around it and a village came up. The landscape which was once barren turned into a lively cultural landscape through a self-sustainable approach one. While the tangible heritage of monumental architecture of the temple is managed and maintained by the Temple Trust, the streets and farmlands along with building knowledge and skills of construction and the art of wood carving in vernacular houses are kept alive by the local people. The paper argues an approach to architectural preservation overlooking the significance of both tangible and intangible heritage. Traditional knowledge system of techniques and cultural values along with human efforts has shaped the landscape that we see today. This inhabited cultural landscape is dynamic rather than in a fixed state as people live here and pilgrims visit it. Such landscapes need a more holistic and comprehensive framework for conservation which integrates architectural monuments, shared spaces like roads and apple orchids because of its association with people, Wood Carving, and other forms of the Cultural Landscape. Such framework can be obtained by understanding the cultural habits and rituals and beliefs of the people, traditional architectural design vocabulary which shaped the settlements and the buildings and intimate knowledge of site geography and climate that shaped and sustained the settlements.
Keywords: architecture preservation, Bhimakali temple complex, cultural landscapes, cultural heritage