Kalidas Jethabhai House - Dharmaj Heritage Collaborative - Open House 1.0

An Open House was held at Kalidas Jethabhai House, the first CEPT Conservation Site School adopted at Dharmaj, Gujarat on Friday, 17th December 2021. The Conservation Site School initiative at Dharmaj is part of ‘Dharmaj Heritage Collaborative’ (link to DHC project page), a joint effort by the Center for Heritage Conservation (CHC), CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) and Avichal Heritage Foundation to safeguard the heritage of Dharmaj. On-site sessions were held in four-time slots following COVID-19 protocols.

The event gave us an opportunity to interact with members of the community and spread the word about the initiative locally. Participation from students and faculty members from Architecture colleges in and around the Charotar region led to interesting conversations on questions of safeguarding heritage.

Anupam Sah, head of Art Conservation, Research and Training at CSMVS Museum Art Conservation Center, Mumbai, gave the inaugural talk, titled Answers to Questions on Caring for Family Heritage.

A Virtual Open House was organised from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm for participants wishing to attend online. Dr. Jigna Desai, Executive Director of CHC introduced the Dharmaj Heritage Collaborative and the Conservation Site School initiative. Ashna Patel, coordinator of Dharmaj Heritage Collaborative at CHC presented the work taken up at the Site School so far and the way forward. The session concluded with the talk by Anupam Sah followed by a thought-provoking Q&A session with him.