Walk through Lahore’s historic monuments and the past reveals itself not only in grand domes and ornate façades, but in the details: a hand-painted fresco, a fragment of glazed tile, the smooth surface of lime plaster. These techniques were once part of a living architectural tradition. Today, many are at risk of becoming lost skills.
Yet the old ways may hold lessons for the future, too.
Mughal architecture was as practical as it was beautiful. Perforated stone screens, or jaalis, channeled air through buildings, while overhanging chajjas offered protection from the sun and rain. Lime plaster, widely used in historic structures, is breathable and can absorb carbon dioxide, qualities that make traditional materials increasingly relevant to conversations about sustainable construction.
The challenge is finding people who still know how to use them.
In Pakistan, opportunities for formal training in heritage conservation remain limited. A new initiative, the Heritage Skills Training Hub, is attempting to bridge that gap by bringing together conservation professionals, academics, craftspeople and young creatives.
The programme is a collaboration between CROMLahore, the Commonwealth Heritage Forum (CHF), the Aga Khan Cultural Service-Pakistan (AKCS-P) and the Punjab Walled Cities and Heritage Areas Authority (PWCA). Following a series of successful workshops last year, the organisations have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand the training programme across Lahore’s historic sites.
The idea is significant: turn conservation sites into classrooms. Previous workshops have taken place at the Royal Kitchens of Lahore Fort, the Shahi Hammam and the Wazir Khan Mosque – monuments where participants could encounter traditional techniques in their original context. Through lectures and hands-on demonstrations, they learned about lime plaster, Kashi Kari (glazed tile mosaic) and Naqqashi (fresco painting), experimenting with materials on weathered surfaces.
The classrooms have been deliberately diverse. Recent graduates in architecture, design and fine art have trained alongside engineers, traditional ustaads, tour guides and residents of neighbouring communities. International specialists and professors from leading Pakistani art institutions have shared the space with grassroots practitioners, including craftspeople from remote areas of Sindh.
For Usman Saeed, President of CROMLahore, the programme addresses an urgent national shortage. “In the tragic absence of a degree-awarding institute focused on heritage conservation in Pakistan,” he says, “Our organization is successfully bridging this gap by employing international and national experts to conduct small courses on architectural ornamentation, to begin with, for young professionals based in Lahore.”
The next phase will go further. Participants will deepen their knowledge of frescoes, glazed tile and lime work, while advanced fresco conservation techniques will be introduced. The programme will also explore Parcheen Kari, the painstaking art of cutting and inlaying coloured stone into marble to create intricate floral and geometric designs.
But perhaps the most important thing being preserved is not a monument or a decorative surface. It is knowledge.
As the AKCS-P CEO, Tausif Khawaja, notes, conservation is also about sustaining the specialized artistic traditions rooted in the region. By teaching these skills to a new generation, the Heritage Skills Training Hub hopes to ensure that Lahore’s architectural heritage is not merely protected as something from the past, but carried forward as a living tradition.