INTACH Celebrates Foundation Day With Heritage Walk In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Members of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) participated in a heritage walk as part of the national conservation body’s foundation day.

The event on Saturday started from the 7th Century Parasurameswar temple and culminated at Subarnajaleswar temple, leading to the Lingaraj Market Complex, behind the Anantavasudev Temple.

Apart from the INTACH members, student heritage club members, 15 from the Einstein Engineering College, 15 from Geeta Institute of Technology and Management (GITM), and five from Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management (IITTM) participated.

Speaking about the purpose of the heritage walk and the backdrop of INTACH as nation’s first private conservation body, other than the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), state convener of INTACH and former DGP AB Tripathy narrated the eventful journey of the organisation and how students should also learn about our tangible (visible) heritage and must develop a keen interest to know the essence of `Bharat’ and our culture and traditions.

Convener, Bhubaneswar chapter, Anil Dhir, co-convener Adyasha Das, eminent danseuse Illeana Citaristi, brass metal artefacts collector Sudarshan Sahoo, members of Bhubaneswar Book Club, Guinness World Records holder “Paperman” Shasanka Shekhar Das, matchbox collector Taranisen Pattanaik and several members of INTACH were present.

During the heritage trail, the members discussed the genesis and development of the various influences on the temple architecture and forms of the Kalingan temple architecture and how INTACH is documenting various temples and monuments across the state. The conservation issues of several temples, including the unscientific use of plaster on the surface of the Kedargouri temple was also discussed.

INTACH members urged the students to visit the monuments and learn about their architectural details and document them so that in future it would also help them in understanding the monuments in a better way and also work like a conservation volunteer.