Gor Khattree Festival 2005
Karavan Gor Khuttree FestivalThe KaravanPakistan Heritage Mural is a pictorial representation of Karavan’s journey on the path of creating awareness amongst our youth about the invaluable heritage that they will eventually inherit tomorrow. This journey started from Lahore in the form of Shahi Qila Heritage Fest. Going through Karachi, Bahawalpur, and Taxila,
KaravanPakistan ‘Gor Khuttree Heritage Fest 2005’ has now preserved Gor Khuttree in the form of murals painted by school children. In this festival various schools from all over Peshawar had taken part. School children congregated at the site of the Gor Khuttree Complex from 8:00am to 12:15pm on Saturday, 30th April 2005. This Heritage Fest was held in collaboration with the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, N.W.F.P, Fine Arts department, University of Peshawar and Sarhad Conservation Network.
Gor Khuttree is a well preserved living complex in the Walled City located in the eastern part of Peshawar. Just like the seed contains the essence of the flower, so the inner historic parts of cities preserve the essential character of a city. One of the amazing things about these historic cores is the way in which they preserve the various skills of artisans and craftsmen. Peshawar’s Walled City in addition to this also reflects the influences of all the invaders that it received yet preserving the original flavour. It goes back to at least the 3rd century BC, the present buildings belong to the Mughal, Sikhs and British Periods. Built by Jehan Ara Begum, the daughter of Mughal King Shah Jehan in 1641, Gor Khuttree is a typical serai of the Mughal Period. It has two prominent gateways, and a network of cells of the Mughal Period along the southern and south-western boundaries, a Sikh temple in the south-western section and the British Period Barracks in the southeastern corner.
The history of Gor Khuttree summarizes our nations history in stone and mortar. Its story begins from Pre-Christian times to the Mughal era when Babur, Jahangir and Akbar all visited Gor Khuttree. It has served as the residence and court offices of the Sikh Governor Avitabile. With the advent of the British it was utilized as a Fire Brigade centre. Later the City Police Station and Revenue Offices were set up here.
It was a celebration of our heritage by our youth. This Karavan activity was held in order to foster a sense of pride in our identity and to preserve the physical manifestation of this identity via heritage sites. At the end of this program, as in all KaravanPakistan activities, certificates of participation were handed out to all participants as a token of acknowledgement of their efforts.