The J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages Monday hosted the inaugural session of 5-day National workshop on protection of Cultural Heritage from natural and man-made disasters with speakers highlighting the need for making efforts for protection of manuscripts, artefacts and other important cultural assets.
The event was inaugurated by Director National Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property, Lucknow, B.V. Kharvade while former Head of Library Sciences Department of Kashmir University, Sheikh Mohammed Shafi presided the inaugural session.
The highlight of the workshop is that subject experts from various parts of the State and outside were participating during which they would present papers on different issues and have discussions and deliberations on the theme of the workshop.
The keynote address was presented by Sheikh Mohammed Shafi, former Head of Library Sciences Department of Kashmir University. In his address Shafi enumerated various aspects of manuscript conservation and laid stress on focusing on all aspects of threat from natural to man made.
Welcoming the participants Secretary Academy, Dr. Aziz Hajini said that manuscript protection was a novel idea and having deliberations on the subject would benefit institutions like the Academy which has a rich manuscript collection dating back to the 12th Century AD. Dr. Hajini said that workshops such as these help a great deal in identifying issues and finding solutions and asked the participants to benefit from the national event on preventive conservation.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
The Secretary Academy thanked the Director NRLC, Lucknow for proposing and extending free manuscript restoration services to the JKAACL; a task which would have otherwise cost the State exchequer around seventy lakh rupees had the NRLC not agreed to do it for free. In his inaugural address Director National Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property, Lucknow B.V. Kharvade said that he was overwhelmed by the response of the Academy in having a workshop on manuscript conservation and protection.
Describing Jammu and Kashmir as a rich State in terms of intangible cultural heritage Kharvade said that the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India was conscious of the richness of the State’s culture and would make all out efforts for its preservation.
Director Archives, Archaeology and Museums, Mohammed Shafi Zahid also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the need of having an action plan for future conservation of State’s cultural heritage which suffered an extensive damage in the devastating flood of September, 2014.
Zahid said that cultural heritage was one of the key determinants of every nation and community and dissemination of knowledge about its preservation was need of the hour. The preventive conservation workshop, which started here Monday is being held by the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in cooperation with National Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property, Lucknow. It will close on 10 July 2015.