4 months ago
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The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has undertaken the meticulous process of documenting the restoration of the historical Alipiri Padala Mandapam, located astatine the opening of the Alipiri footpath successful Tirupati.
The inaugural is being undertaken by the Pune based Lord Venkateswara Charitable and Religious Trust, marking a decisive measurement towards preserving 1 of Tirupati’s astir spiritually and architecturally important structures.
The documentation exercise, a precursor to the carnal restoration, comes against the backdrop of an earlier and much-debated contention surrounding the projected demolition of the mandapam. Conservationists, devotees, and practice experts had past raised concerns implicit the sanctity, originality, and methodology of restoration, prompting calls for a transparent, scientifically grounded approach.
The TTD connected its portion defended its determination citing structural instability and pilgrim information but subsequently sought the involution of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and decided to follow internationally accepted practice conservation practices, placing documentation astatine the bosom of the project.
Speaking to The Hindu, Director (Epigraphy) Archeologial Survey of India (ASI) Mysuru, K. Muniratnam Reddy said that the task is estimated to outgo ₹4–₹5 crore and that the restoration is being anchored successful a meticulous signaling process designed to guarantee that the mandapam’s humanities integrity remains inviolable.
Every architectural component-roof slabs, beams, partition members, flooring stones, and structural joints, volition beryllium individually identified, assigned a unsocial documentation fig and marked with visible, non-invasive paint. Crucially, each constituent volition beryllium recorded with its archetypal orientation, ensuring that dismantling, if required, is wholly reversible and faithful to the archetypal design.
Equally captious is the technological mapping of levels. Benchmarks for floors, beams and extortion heights volition beryllium cautiously established and referenced against adjacent imperishable structures utilizing impermanent benchmarks, creating a precise architectural fingerprint of the mandapam earlier immoderate intervention.
