The grand white marble dome of the 16th-century mausoleum of the Mughal king- Humayun’s Tomb will get more glorious by shining brightly at night throughout the year. The iconic monument is getting restored with the installation of 800 energy efficient lamps. The high energy consuming halogen light fixtures which were installed at the tomb in the year 1999 have been replaced by LED bulbs.
The implementation of the beams of LED luminaires will be directed from the bottom towards the top and will highlight the dome such as mimicking the moonlight effect simultaneously enhancing the look of the structure in an aesthetic manner. The dome is going to be lit after sunset every day for almost five hours.
Furthermore, the new lights at the monuments will lower down the power consumption by 90%, said Ratish Nanda, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) – which is behind the restoration of the monument. According to him, the illumination of the dome was a challenge because lighting had to be designed in a way to restrict any shadow on the surface of the structure.
“The structure is now visible from all directions Nizamuddin bridge (east), Barapullah elevated road (south), Zakir Husain Marg flyover (north), and Lodi Road flyover (south). The illuminated dome will enhance the skyline of the city. Havells India Limited has borne the entire cost of the lighting fixtures as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme,” said Nanda.
Aga Khan Trust for Culture undertook the restoration of Humayun’s Tomb, the first garden tomb in Indian subcontinent built-in 1570 in 1997. As of today the trust has restored 50 ancient structures in its vicinity and neighboring Nizamuddin Basti, Sundar Nursery complex and Batasheywala tomb.
The preservation of the famous monument has been going on for quite some time with the proper measure being undertaken to get it back to its old glory. Keeping that as a priority, as well as the safety of the heritage building and visitors the lights are installed 100 metres away from the main structure. Timers will also be installed soon so that light will switch off automatically, according to Nanda
“The fixtures have been installed in a manner that the historic character of the site is not compromised for daytime visitors. The electric cables have been laid outside the tomb’s enclosed walled garden to ensure that no damage is done to the underlying archaeological structure,” said Nanda.
