‘Unfolding the Cosmos’ – The Significance of History and of Architecture as its Primary Source: The Case of the Red Fort

Illustrated lecture by Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, architect who has specialized in conservation and is Visiting Faculty, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. Anisha works as an independent designer and researcher and is Founding Director, Ambi Knowledge Resources and author of The Red Fort of Shahjahanabad (Oxford University Press: 2003); Jantar Mantar (Ambi: 2010); Renewing Design with Communities (co-edited with Snehanshu Mukherjee, Routledge, 2023) among other books

Chair: Anuradha Chaturvedi, Architectural Conservation, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi

The talk will explore the significance of history in construing and constructing identity and memory — what we are, what we may have been, and what we can be. And the role of architecture in all this, through the example of the iconic World Heritage Site of the Red Fort, a symbol of political and cultural identity. Can architecture be considered a primary source of history? And how should we read it?