Determined citizens are leading a movement to restore Surat’s heritage buildings
The Hindu
The epicentre of the project is Surat Fort, which is surrounded by seven other monuments
Commercial Surat is a busy tangle of jagged textile markets and prodigious diamond factories. The latest to join the cacophony are artisanal coffee shops tucked away in leafy residential corners, international burger and churro joints on the main street facing shopping complexes and coaching centres that guarantee a dream ticket to the U.S. Visitors to the city drive on the various bridges across the Tapti and visit the haunted houses on Dumas beach. Some drive to the industrial belt of Suvali beach (Hazira) where the oil and gas plants slowly give way to an open horizon where the Arabian Sea meets the ever-changing sky. But now, quietly but determinedly, a movement launched by the citizens of the city has been unveiling a whole other set of attractions. Now, travellers can make midnight visits to the Khammavati stepwell by the light of old-fashioned kerosene lanterns, walk through the old Parsi localities with their arched-door houses, intricately carved windows, brackets and wooden shutters, or check out the Turkish hammam at Surat Fort. Until a few years ago, few Surat dwellers knew the height of its very prominent clock tower (which celebrates 150 years this year) or the fact that it had a number of stepwells, but a public-private heritage revival project is changing that rapidly.More Related News
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