Museum of Archeology

06 2009

Beaconhouse National University

Tutor: Dr. Khalid W. Bajwa

Prof. Dr. Gulzar Haider

Project - Thesis of B.Arch Degree

Status - Academic Project

Location - Lahore, Pakistan

Program - Museum

Building area - 14,200 m2

In 1959 when the Department of Archaeology embarked upon an excavation beneath the Lahore Fort and Dhayan Singh’s Havaili, the multitude of objects revealed included terracotta plaques, figurines and fifty ceramics of ancient origin. The cultural material found during these excavations shows that the mound on which Lahore Fort stands is an accumulation of cultural layers of considerable antiquity. There are not a lot of references to the ancient city that existed in this location, yet we find traces of what that city was and how it came about to give way to the layers present in the city today. These archaeological traces establish that there existed a city much before the known history. However, the exact date of the foundation of Lahore is still vague.

Archeology has a significant role in reliving the historical facts. However, digging into history, we find ourselves face to face with aspects that can be real or mythical. Real aspects are those that we can physically observe or hold, and the mythical are those that have yet not been discovered but are known to exist.

With this understanding of history and archaeology, I see my site as layers and layers of facts and myths. My thesis is a serious attempt to discover and reveal these layers by proposing a meaningful architectural intervention. Taking clues from the process of archaeology, which is a discovery of past, I intend to introduce a similar experience. The proposed building is a Museum Of Archeology outside the Lahore Fort’s wall, where archaeologists can also practice rehabilitation and restoration techniques to discover the undiscovered. The proposed building is open to the public so that all interested can see the archaeological process and the revealed layers. In this way, this building is a learning source itself, where people can look at those treasures of our past that remain hidden beneath the earth.