Fort was built by Sevappa Nayak in mid 16th century & still continues to attract tourists
Sivaganga Little Fort in Thanjavur
Chennai: The historic Nayak era Sivaganga Little Fort, Thanjavur, will soon be transformed into a major attraction in the region. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which had waged a long battle and finally got back its land, amounting to 11 acres near the fort, has plans to restore the damaged portions and give it a new lease of life.
The fort was built by Sevappa Nayak in the mid-16th century and it still continues to attract tourists and a good number of locals. The ASI authorities could not take up maintenance work as the land was leased out to the corporation in 1988. But ever since, the ASI has been insisting on having the land revert to its administrative control.
Things moved fast recently and the Thanjavur district administration finally handed over the 11 acres of land to the ASI on Tuesday. “District collector N. Subbaiyan had paved the way for handing over the land to the ASI. The district administration had already cleared the thick vegetation on portions of the land. Portions of the fort walls have collapsed.
We will draw up plans to restore them,” says G. Maheshwari, superintending archaeologist, Chennai Circle. The official who had gone to inspect the spot along with the district collector and other officials, says that the collector’s dynamic decision and his efforts in clearing thickets and laying roads would help facilitate the beautification drive. The restoration work would be taken up after the vegetation was completely cleared.
The Sivaganga Little Fort, enclosing the Big Temple, is an ASI- protected structure. As far back as in 1778, British painter B. Henry had engraved ‘Thanjore view’ from the bastions of the little fort. The district administration has now embarked upon the task of reviving the Little Fort’s moat.
- Nayak era Sivaganga Little Fort, Thanjavur, will be transformed into a major attraction in the region
- The fort was built by Sevappa Nayak in the mid-16th century and it still continues to attract tourists and a good number of locals
- District collector Subbaiyan had paved the way for handing over the land to the ASI
- Plans to be drawn up to restore fort walls
Mobile apps to guide tourists in Mamallapuram heritage site
Tourists visiting the world heritage site of Mamallapuram will soon hope to get a feel of visiting the rock-cut monuments and even listen to interesting historical anecdotes on their android phones. The TTDC is developing a mobile application for android phones on its tourism website for the benefit of the tourists. Visitors to the heritage location could download the application and enjoy the audio-visual on their phones. “Already we had launched the trilingual audio guide facility for Mamallapuram for the benefit of tourists availing our tours. Now we have decided to upload this facility along with visuals on our website: www.tamilnadutourism.org to enable the people get an insight into the ASI protected monument,” a senior official said. Users could either download the mobile phone application before visiting or listen to it while touring the ancient monuments, he added.
( Source : dc )
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