Restoration of the southern part of Wazir Khan bazaar will be completed by June 30, Punjab Archaeology Department (PAD) official Anjum Qureshi said on Thursday.

In a briefing by PAD and the US Consulate in front of the Wazir Khan mosque, he said shops in the bazaar would be given next month to craftsmen who practice 17th century professions like wood carving, book binding, metalwork and building arts. It had not been decided if the shops would be given on rent or for free and the date of the transfer had not been finalised so far, he said.

Qureshi said bricks for the conservation project had been made to order and the conservation included underpinning and flooring with kankar lime. Artisans who had worked on various monuments all over Punjab had been hired for Rs 250 per day, he said. The project began in 2004 by PAD in collaboration with the United States Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation for Less Developed Countries.

High salinity caused major problems during the restoration, he said, and although it had been controlled to some extent, it was an issue that needed attention.

Most restoration work in the ‘Crafts Bazaar’ project was done on the southern part of the bazaar, which had 8 shops and a gateway. The face of the mosque was re-plastered, fresco paintings were reproduced and the centre street was repaved. Students were invited to see the restoration work, he added.

Tahira Habib, a US Consulate official, said that the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation helped countries preserve manuscripts, museum collections, ancient and historic sites, and traditional forms of expression. The northern part of the bazaar, which had 8 shops, was restored in 2003 with an $18,000 aid, she said, and former US Ambassador Nancy Powell announced an additional grant of $31,000 in August 2004 to restore the southern part.

She said the restoration included removing the crumbling masonry from the base of the wall and underpinning with brick of a special size in kankar lime mortar. The base of the walls was dump-proofed to prevent damage from moisture, the most common cause of decay in old buildings, she said.

The walls were plastered with kankar lime mortar after removing the decayed plaster and racking the joints of old masonry, she said, and surface treatment involved the originally used crafts (fresco, brick imitation, glazed lime plaster and tile mosaic) in the same design and colour.

She said the decaying eaves and ornamental brackets in front of the shops had been restored and the dressed brick tile flooring on a concrete base was re-laid in the original geometric pattern. The façades on either side of the entrance were restored and the main arch on the road to the north of the mosque was repaired.

The Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation had earlier helped Pakistan preserve Sirkap in Taxila (2001), Masjid Mohabbat Khan in Peshawar (2002), Man Singh Haveli at Rohtas Fort (2003) and Jinnan Wali Dehri in Taxila (2005), she said.

The Wazir Khan mosque was built by Hakim, popularly known as Nawab Wazir Khan, in 1634. The mosque was built in seven years and its architecture was influenced by the Thatta mosaic work that became popular in the 16th century. The bazaar, a part of the mosque, had 22 shops laid out in two parallel rows.