“Rehabilitation of Jahangir’s Tomb”
Abstract
Mughals ruled over Indian Sub-Continent for more than 300 years (1526-1857). During their
reign they constructed many magnificent structures. Some of them are in India and some are in
Pakistan. In Pakistan only some of these structures are UNESCO world heritage sites. Buildings
other than these are at the verge of collapse. But now, Govt. of Pakistan is paying attention for
the rehabilitation of these buildings.
Our research deals with the rehabilitation of the walls of Jahangir tomb which is not a world
heritage site. Constructed in 1637, has now deteriorating walls. The main aim is standardization
of the Lime Mortar of same composition (as constructed) to get maximum strength and cracks
free surface. It is the main problem associated with the rehabilitation of destructed parts of the
walls. To standardize the lime mortar we started from hit and trial method and made different
trials with different composition of the material, using different water/lime ratio. At different
time intervals we tested the material’s strength and crack developing phenomenon.
It was observed that we cannot just use any quantity and ratio to mix different constituents. The
materials have to be mixed in specific proportion, with specific amount of water to get maximum
strength and crack free surface. We studied the behavior of the material for almost 2 years. We
noticed that the materials prepared with proportions else than what we selected get damaged just
after a few weeks. At last we got successful results of our proposed standard.
Now this material will not only be used in conservation of the said building but also for other
heritage sites by Archaeological department of Pakistan.