Tamil Temple Towns: Conservation and Contestation

该项目源于泰米尔纳德邦快速发展的城市中心巨大的、活的寺庙建筑群中有争议的遗产的紧迫问题。它考察了泰米尔纳德邦两个不同的寺庙城市马杜赖和昆巴科纳姆，以解决人们目前对一些功能正常的寺庙修复方式的担忧。最近，这种担忧导致了法庭诉讼，以及教科文组织的参与，试图找到方法来制定可为不同利益攸关方接受的适当保护指导方针。这些必须考虑到古代梵语仪式和建筑论文的规定，尽管还没有被充分理解，但仍然很受尊敬。因此，该项目旨在提供一个权威的研究机构，为寺庙城市的遗产保护和管理提供包容性和可持续的指导方针。它将提供对具有代表性的寺庙结构的建筑、城市环境和更新阶段的深入研究的历史，并阐明对这些遗址的不同叙述和看法。将查明和评估最近修复的性质。将研究梵文文本，以概述它们的相关说明，并展示它们的理论概念如何与寺庙设计和保护的实际实践相联系。将创建数字模型来概括研究结果，为架构分析提供数据，并作为一种工具来引出和表达社区和利益相关者的多种观点。作为未来指导方针的基础，研究结果将在一份报告中提出，该报告将与模型一起出现在项目网站上。其他成果将包括一份同行评议期刊的特刊。

The project arises from pressing issues of contested heritage in the great, living temple complexes at the heart of rapidly growing cities in Tamil Nadu. It examines two distinct temple cities of Tamil Nadu, Madurai and Kumbakonam, to address current concerns over the ways in which some functioning temples are being restored. Such concerns have recently led to court cases, and the involvement of UNESCO in an attempt to find ways to create appropriate conservation guidelines acceptable to different stakeholders. These must take into account the prescriptions of ancient Sanskrit ritual and architectural treatises, still much revered though not sufficiently understood. The project therefore aims to provide an authoritative body of research to inform inclusive and sustainable guidelines for heritage conservation and management in the temple cities. It will provide a well-researched history of the architecture, urban settings, and phases of renewal of the representative temple structures, and articulate the different narratives and perceptions about these sites. The nature of recent restorations will be ascertained and evaluated. Sanskrit texts will be studied for an overview of their relevant instructions, and to show how their theoretical concepts relate to the actual practice of temple design and conservation. Digital models will be created to encapsulate the research findings, to provide data for architectural analysis, and as a tool to elicit and express the multiple viewpoints of the community and stakeholders. The findings, as a basis for the future guidelines, will be presented in a report, which will appear on the project website along with the models. Other outcomes will include a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal.