Rediscovering Heritage

The eastern facade of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Samadhi. It has frescoes of guardian figures that Dr Nadhra Shahbaz Naeem Khan from Lahore University of Management found after scraping thick layers of whitewash. They have since been covered with more layers and lost again. Dr Khan’s PhD dissertation was a study of the ornamental program of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Samadhi in Lahore. This led her to study other Sikh monuments in Punjab. In the process, she has built an impressive photographic archive documenting some endangered sites. Most of the monuments lie dilapidated, on the verge of being erased from history. (Hosh Media)