Heritage Week starts with a walk in Walled City

The walk began at Kalupur Swaminarayan Temple at 8 am and covered a distance of about 2 km in 2 hours

Swiss architects and CEPT students joined the two-hour walk from Swaminarayan Temple in Kalupur to Jama Masjid in the Walled City

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s heritage week kicked off with a Swiss group of architects joining the heritage walk on Wednesday morning.

The daily heritage walk will help the participants explore the walled city. The walk begins at Kalupur Swaminarayan Temple at 8 am and covers a distance of about 2 km in 2 hours. On the way, one finds old houses with carved wood facade, bird feeders, century-old temples, mosques and markets.

AMC with the support of Cruta Foundation, an NGO, organises heritage week every year. The walk  has a long history and strong architectural and urban character.

Urvashi Ramaiya, the guide for the first day, said, “We have four volunteers, but I have the privilege of being around on most of the heritage walks. I am in love with Ahmedabad and always wanted to do something for it. So I took up this responsibility of showing off Amdavad to others.”

“We studied the modern architecture like that of the IIM in Ahmedabad. But the medieval part of the city is more fascinating,” said Rudolf Fraefel, a member of Swiss architect group.

Fraefel’s daughter Julia was also around. She said, “I am happy my group manager decided to join this walk. It is nice to see all these old carvings.” Some students of interior designing at CEPT University also joined the walk.

“We are on a project to draw the pols of Amdavad. So we thought of taking a look at the heritage buildings. But after coming here, we realised that although we belong to Amdavad, we are completely foreign to these places,” said Nikita Nair. Komal Gajjar echoed her views.

“I had heard about the heritage walk. But I joined it for the first time today. It is very interesting to know the history and facts of our city,” said Jitendra Trivedi, another participant.

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