Satkhanda glitters in all its beauty
LUCKNOW: The Satkhanda -- a nawabi era structure that underwent transformation recently – appeared in all its resplendent beauty on Barawafat, mesmerizing Lucknowites on an outing to the Old City area on Saturday.
“It’s beautiful. I never thought Satkhanda would look so beautiful. Indeed it’s one of the most beautiful heritage structures now,” said Mohammed Imtiaz, as he took a selfie along with his family members with Satkhanda in the background.
Imtiyaz said not many years back, the area near Satkhanda used to be a garbage dump and the structure was in a dilapidated state.
“Thanks to the former Samajwadi Party government for infusing new life into the fading structure, making it as good as
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The restoration project included strengthening, transforming surrounding areas into garden and illumination work.
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new,” added Imtiyaz.
Others too hailed the efforts of the former government in transforming the structure that considered the state capital’s own Tower of Pisa.
Satkhanda was perhaps the focal point of the Old City beautification project, the restoration of which was undertaken by Lucknow Development Authority itself.
“The Satkhanda restoration project included beautification, strengthening, transforming the surrounding areas into garden and illumination work. We managed to complete the beautification and illumination work but there is much more left to do,” an LDA official said.
The project also includes establishment of story-telling kiosks at the monument and also 3D projection mapping technique to screen short films on the structure, using it as a canvass.
In November 2016 LDA conceptualized the idea of audio tours aimed to facilitate tourists, who mostly depended on Google for information on the monument.
They also planned 3D projection mapping of the structure.
It aimed at transforming the red brick watch tower— which historians claim came into existence during the regime of Nawab Mohammad Ali Shah (1837 to 1842 AD) —into a canvass to screen short films. But these works are yet to see be completed.