³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ Signs MoU with Department of Archaeology and Tourism for Documentation of Heritage Sites in Punjab
The Secretary Tourism, Government of Punjab, Mr. Asadullah Faiz, and Vice Chancellor ³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ, Dr. Arshad Ahmad signed an MoU on Friday, April 1, 2022 at ³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ. This collaboration will help bring heritage sites and their conservation centrestage for the entire ³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ community, especially inspiring students to develop familiarity with historical monuments and eventually become their custodians and spokespersons.
The two parties collaborating through this MoU are the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School School of Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS) at ³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ and the Department of Archaeology and Tourism (DOT), Punjab. Several courses offered by the School’s History Department focus on Punjab’s art and heritage and every semester students produce excellent research on different sites in the form of essays, brochures and documentaries. DOT is keen to use this material both for promotional purposes, and to better understand these sites in light of the historical information this body of work carries.
The co-signatories of this MoU included Dean MGSHSS, Dr. Ali Khan; Associate Professor, Art History, MGSHSS, Dr. Nadhra Shahbaz Khan; Director General, DOT, Government of Punjab, Mr. Usman Ali Khan, and Deputy-Director, DOT, Government of Punjab, Mr. Sardar Salman Tanweer Khan.
The ceremony started with a presentation by Dr. Nadhra Shahbaz Khan on the heritage sites her students will be documenting this semester. The fourteen groups of students enrolled in the course on 'Mughal Monuments of Lahore: Appropriation, Conservation & Tourism', have selected one site each and are developing a variety of items as part of their assignments. These include guidebooks, documentaries, photo-reports highlighting urgent issues, signage design and creative ideas to improve the site’s visibility.
Dr. Arshad Ahmad urged the Secretary and Director General to continue to improve the profiles of important heritage sites as they are significant national assets that must be promoted internationally. Mr. Asadullah Faiz and Mr. Usman Ali Khan shared the sentiment and affirmed their commitment to conserve and boost both tangible and intangible aspects of all material culture that lies within their scope of authority. They also assured the Vice Chancellor of their complete support in providing access to heritage sites and sharing official records with the students working on selected sites.
Building on this, Dr. Ali Khan stated that he would work towards creating an environment at MGSHSS where students are encouraged to work on heritage sites for more than a semester such as their Senior-Projects, as these would yield more meaningful research.
