Working in Mughal Paradise: Restoring Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi and Bagh-e Babur, Kabul

The Mughals ruled the Indian Sub-continent for over 300 years from the early 16th century onwards. Bagh-e Babur and the landscape at Humayun’s Tomb are the earliest surviving Mughal gardens in Afghanistan and India respectively. Both gardens are the setting for several monumental buildings and both have been restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) as part of the Aga Khan Historic Cities Program. The gardens at Humayun’s Tomb, though largely intact, had lost their historic character, while Bagh-e Babur had mostly been destroyed in the 20th century. Extending their work at the Delhi site, AKTC is now landscaping a 28-hectare park with distinct heritage, ecological, and nursery zones in Nizamuddin, the urban area abutting Humayun’s Tomb. For each of these garden projects M. Shaheer has been the Landscape Architect. Ratish Nanda’s talk will describe all three garden projects with an emphasis on site histories, the landscape restoration process, and the philosophical, political, and physical challenges of the projects.