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| Cupola Smith' folly commons.wikimedia.org |
Above image: Qutub Minar complex, Delhi. Smith's Cupola seen against the backdrop of Qutub Minar.....................
More than ones Qutub Minar,an important tourist destination in Delhi since its inception centuries ago has structurally suffered and damaged due to natural causes such as lightning strikes and earthquakes. The minar after a long spell of time was repaired by later rulers such as Feroz Shah and Sikander Lodi. Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq repaired the tower and added two more stores. He now increased the height of the minarand added a cupola (a rounded dome) on it. Now, you can see the two extended stories, but not the dome on the minar installed by Feroz Shah.
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| Qutub minar, ,view from Smith's Folly, Delhinavrangindia.in |
In a severe earthquake in 1803 the cupola fell down from Qutub Minar. The British government under the English company instructed Robert Smith of the Royal Engineering division to carry out the repairs.as he was associated with the construction of James Church in Delhi. He came up with the installation of pillared Chhatri in 1828 on the fifth storey, an incongruous design that was a mismatch for the sultanate style structure built several hundred years ago. The chhatri looked more or less like a cupola.
Several years later during the reign of Viscount Hardinge, the Governor General of India Hardinge himself noticed the shape of cupola on the tower and realized that it was an architectural mismatch that was not relevant to the era of the sultanate period. So, he had it removed in 1848 set it on the ground level away from the minar.
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| .Cupola Smith's Folly, Qutub Minar complex, Delhi.dreamstime.com/ |
Above image: This cupola, set in one corner of the lawns of the Qutub Minar Complex, used to adorn the top of the Minar. It was added by Major Robert Smith of the Royal Engineers in 1828
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the recent past successfully completed the conservation and restoration work. It took a while for them to fix the damaged pillared red sandstone cupola, popularly known as “ Smith’s Folly”, at the world heritage site Qutub Minar. In 1848 it was removed from the tower and set in this site during the English Company's rule.and since then it has been standing in the same site.
The badly damaged ornamental chajja” was conserved, and if the conservation had not been taken at the right time this pillar based structure would have collapsed. The ASI engineers and technicians used old traditional technique in the conservation work. They used a careful blend of lime mortar, sand and surkhi (powdered form of burnt bricks) mixed with liquid jaggery for binding. As for a filling the gaps and joints they used belgiri, gum and jaggery.
