LAHORE, Feb01 : A decorative mural at Lahore Fort dating back to the Mughal era is decaying and the condition of its mosaic tiles and rare fresco paintings is deteriorating, a newspaper report said on Wednesday.

Mughal emperor Jehangir had started the mural, which Shah Jahan completed in 1631-32 AD.

Punjab Archaeology Department (PAD) sources said a meeting held in Lahore recently had decided to start repairing the mural from February onwards. They said representatives of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Punjab and Norwegian governments attended the meeting.

The technical committee and structural consultant of the UNESCO-run project would submit proposals for the mural’s conservation by the second week of February, sources said, adding that the proposal would also include the conservation of Akbari Gate and the Royal Kitchen.

The meeting was told that the Punjab government had prepared a conservation plan for Lahore Fort monuments costing about Rs 300 million and the mural was part of the project, they said. A mosaic tile workshop to make sample tiles would also be held in February, PAD sources added. The mosaic tile workshop would help in the mural’s conservation, sources said, adding that beautiful motifs on the mural were decaying.

Archaeologists say the mural is decaying because rain, pollution, dust and wind. Many panels of the fresco paintings have also fallen. When rainwater penetrates the wall, it causes several types of decay. After water saturation in the wall and the surface of the mosaic tiles, water steams down vertically and the wind pushes it through cracks or through the material itself.

PAD sources said various types of organic growth might just cover the whole mural if its advance remained unchecked. Small plants had grown on top and in the openings of the wall on which the mural existed, they said, adding that the wall was cracked from several places and the cement used to keep the mosaic tiles in place had weakened. About 60 percent of the wall needed conservation and restoration, sources added.

The technical committee’s proposals on conserving and restoring the wall would be forwarded to authorities concerned, sources said. Protection of the wall would include water tightening the top, repairing the decayed mosaic tiles and replacing the missing ones according to the original pattern, re-plastering the affected lime plaster and restoring the fresco paintings according to original design, PAD sources added. The wall, which is about 450 metres in length and 17 metres in height, is one of the most beautiful and unique monuments in the world. It consists of a series of mosaic tile panels, which are simply exquisite.

The fresco paintings on the wall are of fighting animals and various sports that existed during the Mughal era. The paintings also include people wearing the attire and dress of those times.