A case of Two Educational campuses: Pearl Academy of Fashion, Jaipur and Indian School Of Business, Hyderabad:

THE CONCEPT OF WORLD HERITAGE SITE AND CHENNAI’S BEST BET TOWARDS ACHIEVING ONE OF ITS OWN

Chennai our city, with its rich history (a minimum of 350 yrs), lacks in one aspect other Indian metropolitan cities like New Delhi and Mumbai don’t. What is it? Any guesses? It is a World Heritage Site (WHS). New Delhi can boast of a handful of WHS’s like the Qutb complex, Humayuns tomb etc. Mumbai to its credit has the Chatthrapathi Sivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus). Is this because

(a)     We don’t have anything of that sort to be given the World heritage status

or

(b)      We don’t appreciate the heritage we have and take steps to achieve the World Heritage Status to a site within our city.

Going by the history of Chennai, it cannot be option (a), it’s always option (b). To prove my point lets understand certain things.

What is heritage? - “Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration”[1]

What is a World heritage Site (WHS)? - To begin with, it would be better if we understand the term World Heritage Site clearly. The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) under its specialized sector culture formed the world heritage committee, comprising a group of 21 representatives from countries who agreed to abide by the world heritage convention of 1972. The main reason behind this was to safeguard the rich and varied, Natural and Cultural heritage of the world and pass it on to the future generations. One of the exceptional concepts of World heritage site is that of its universal application as they are the property of the people of the World, irrespective of the territory on which they are located. In all, there are 981 world heritage sites inscribed from 160 countries. Out of this 30 inscriptions are from our country.[2] The latest to the list from India is a group of six hill forts of Rajasthan. To be inscribed to this list the site has to be justified with at least one of the 10 selection criteria’s, six for Cultural heritage (the ones listed below) and four for Natural heritage.

Selection criteria (Cultural)[3]

         i.            to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;

2. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
3. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
4. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
5. to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;
6. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

In addition to the above list the protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations[4].

With this introduction to the concept of World Heritage Site (WHS), let us move on to our case that is Chennai city. When we think of Chennai as a heritage rich city, many buildings pop up in our minds. The city of Chennai is dotted with a number of religious buildings including temples, churches and mosques. Also found in Chennai are the best examples of Indo-Sarasenic architecture like the Ripon building, Head post office, State Bank of India building to name a few. All these buildings form and showcase the rich heritage of Chennai, but there is one site which stands apart from all these and has been the fulcrum of the city of Chennai that we see today. That is the Fort St. George of Chennai.

It was in 1600’s that the English East India Company started its trade in India, from Surat on the Western Coast. To have a good hold on the spice trade, which they were very much interested in, they needed to settle down with a port close to the Malaccan strait. In the process they selected a piece of land in the coromandel coast and stuck a deal with the local Vijayanagara Chieftain for that land. The construction of the Fort was initiated and it was completed in 23^rd April 1644AD and was named Fort St. George after the patron Saint of England, whose birthday fell on the same day. This day is usually referred to as the birth of Chennai city that we see today. With this very short history of the Fort St. George (though does not justify the 3.5 centuries of existence) as background we shall now see if it is a potential World Heritage Site, by seeing if it matches with any of the  selection criteria listed above.

Criteria (ii) – Fort St. George established as a small factory, developed into a fort, which became the node of British Empire in India and other South East Asian countries. The 350 years of its existence has seen interactions between different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The fort has been the mainstay of British Empire, also it has been a place where Armenians, Portuguese, Dutch along with the English resided, it was also captured by the French in the mid of 18^th century. There existed a settlement of the natives called the Black town which was later resettled further north of the city. Throughout its existence, Fort St. George has been a site which has witnessed the interactions between different ethnic groups.

Criteria (iii) – Fort St. George is the place which gave the British the impetus to develop their stronghold on the South East Asian regions of the world. The fact that the English colonised a number of countries in the region after establishing themselves in Madras (Fort St. George) bears testimony to the importance of this fort in establishing their dominance and colonising, which has been a major event in the history of the world.

Criteria (iv) – The medieval military architecture of Europe saw the development of Star fort category of fort building. The Fort St. George is one of the best examples of this Star fort category and was one of the first of its kinds in these parts of the globe. (In addition to the above criteria’s there are certain individual buildings within the fort complex which may individually be inscribed as WHS based on its importance in history and construction technology.  Example for this type of building is St. Marys Church.)

Google earth image showing triangular bastions composing a star fort

As seen above, Fort St. George can meet at least three criteria’s to be inscribed as a World Heritage site, but this is not the only thing that is required. Protection, management, authenticity and integrity of the properties should be clearly stated out in the dossier prepared for nomination. This means,  whatever the importance of the site, there needs to be a proper proposal for the management of heritage sites so as they are managed  properly after getting inscribed. The process followed for any site to be inscribed is as follows, firstly the said site should have been in the tentative list prepared by the State Parties – the Government and fortunately for us, the fort is already there in the tentative list. The Government then has to prepare the nomination file usually called as the dossier, in

St. Marys Church - Oldest Anglican Church in India, inside Fort St. George

which, they have to clearly spell out who is the stake holder or owner and who will be responsible for the site and the future course of action. On the basis of nomination file, the advisory bodies’ advice the World Heritage Committee, if the said site can be inscribed as a World heritage Site.

St. Marys Church interiors

The above process is complicated. It requires, firstly highest level of expertise to make the nomination file and secondly, the political will to push it through. To make the nomination file, proper documentation of the property is required which is a tedious process and requires both monetary and man power resources. The government, for this purpose, can approach any architectural institution like ours (MEASI Academy of Architecture) in helping them with documentation, wherein students of architecture will be of great help. This sort of a process will help in mutual benefit of the Government, the institution and the students. The government gets the manpower and expertise, the institution and students, apart from monetary gains, can take pride in working towards a World Heritage status for a site in our city, which is a prestigious one.

The political will is required here to tackle a major problem of stake holder and ownership, without which the site cannot be inscribed a WHS. Fort St. George comprises of a number of individual structures within its walls. These buildings are in the possession of either Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) or The Army or The State Government of Tamil Nadu. Some are owned by ASI, where as some are not owned but are maintained by ASI. My personal experience says that there is some sort of confusion among themselves. To be inscribed this has to be sorted out. Same kind of problem was seen in Red fort Delhi before it was inscribed a WHS, Only after it was properly dealt with, was it possible to get the status. So, it’s high time we heritage enthusiast and citizens of the city try to take away all the differences and make sure we get one site World Heritage Site for our city to start with !! HOPE . . .

Muzakkir G. M. Bijli

This is a reprint of the article which came in the magazine of MEASI Academy of Architecture in 2014... Putting it here on the forts 375th birth day.... 

This article though does not do justice to the importance of the fort, but i hope this gives a gist of its importance....

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[1] Whc.unesco.org/en/about/

[2] Whc.unesco.org/en/list/

[3] http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/in

[4] http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/in