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The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India: Revitalization of a Cultural Heritage

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DOI: 10.1080/13574800903264838

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The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India: Revitalization of a Cultural Heritage

Landscape
Swati Nagpal a; Amita Sinha b
a
School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India b Department of Landscape Architecture, University of
Illinois at Urbana Champaign, IL, USA

Online Publication Date: 01 November 2009

To cite this Article Nagpal, Swati and Sinha, Amita(2009)'The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India: Revitalization of a Cultural Heritage
Landscape',Journal of Urban Design,14:4,489 — 506
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 Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 14. No. 4, 489–506, November 2009

The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India: Revitalization

of a Cultural Heritage Landscape

SWATI NAGPAL* & AMITA SINHA**

*School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India; **Department of Landscape Architecture,
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, IL, USA

ABSTRACT Historic Lucknow was oriented to the Gomti riverfront with monumental
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architecture of mosques, mausoleums and palaces concentrated on the southern bank. Thus
the river was much more than a transportation artery enjoyed for its views and breezes and
appreciated for its utility. This elite riverfront landscape was transformed into backwaters
and disappeared from the public eye over time. Its centrality as a landscape of power was
lost as a result of the momentous political and economic changes, beginning with the
Indian Uprising/Mutiny in 1857. Although efforts are currently underway to beautify the
riverfront by lining it with parks and plazas, they do not explicitly evoke the historic
landscape and are piecemeal efforts to provide greenery. The paper outlines an urban
conservation model and suggests design interventions that would revitalize the riverfront
and contribute towards preserving both tangible and intangible heritage of the city.

Introduction
The cultural heritage of Lucknow, the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India,
is interwoven with the Gomti River, on the banks of which it flourished in the
18th and 19th centuries. The Gomti River, vital to the establishment and
sustenance of historic Lucknow, has become more of a backwater over time. No
longer a transportation artery or a recreational amenity, it was lost to the public
consciousness, particularly after embankments were built on both its banks in a
bid to protect the city from the flooding river. However, the last decade has
witnessed vigorous efforts on the part of the state government to ‘beautify’ the
riverfront. Missing in these endeavours has been a conscious effort to celebrate
Lucknow’s cultural heritage and to restore the river’s ecological health.
The premise of this paper is that the Gomti riverfront can become an arena for
heritage revitalization, in the process strengthening the unique identity of the city
under threat by forces of large-scale economic and social changes. The riverfront
as the site of much of Lucknow’s historic and monumental architecture and in
proximity to its historic urban core is particularly suited for revitalization efforts.
The paper proposes that the revitalization efforts should be guided by an
urban conservation model that aims at enhancing the ‘sense’ of the city. Kevin
Correspondence Address: Amita Sinha, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of
Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 101 Temple Buell Hall, 611 Lorado Taft Drive, Champaign, IL
61820, USA. Email: sinha2@uiuc.edu

1357-4809 Print/1469-9664 Online/09/040489-18 q 2009 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/13574800903264838
 490 S. Nagpal & A. Sinha

Lynch defines the sense of a settlement by the “clarity with which it can be
perceived and identified, and the ease with which its elements can be linked
with other events and places in a coherent representation of time and space”
(Lynch, 1987, p. 131). This model expands the scope of heritage conservation
efforts in Indian cities that have been hitherto directed largely towards
architectural monuments, to the exclusion of their urban context.
The ‘monument-centric’ approach, initiated in colonial India has continued to
retain its hold in post-colonial India, resulting in a disconnection between the
preserved historic monument and its changing surroundings (Menon, 2003). This
emphasis on material heritage, and particularly that of buildings alone, is at odds
with what the culture values about its past—its modes of aesthetic expression
(of which architecture is only a part), oral narrative traditions and symbolic
meanings attributed to nature. The lack of congruence between institutional
practice of heritage conservation and societal values has resulted in urban
landscapes where the isolated historic monuments do not play a meaningful role
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in developing a vivid sense of the city’s past.

An urban conservation model that puts equal emphasis on the area around
and between historic buildings as on the buildings themselves is necessary
bearing in mind that medieval structures were always an ensemble with complex
visual and physical relationships among the units. The natural landscape
determined the location of forts, palace complexes and gardens, and the
interaction between the built form and landscape occurred in multiple ways.
The most appropriate way to preserve the spirit of the past would be to conserve
and/or recreate these relationships.
An equally important aspect of the urban conservation model is the emphasis
on intangible heritage, that which resides in cultural habits of perception,
knowledge and technologies and is manifested in tangible forms—artifacts,
buildings and cultural landscapes. Multiple forms of heritage can be preserved
through planning and programmatic efforts in this model, wherein heritage sites
can be spaces for performance and production. Another facet of this approach is
the acknowledgement and acceptance of temporal change. This means
accommodating new structures, new ways of using spaces and changing cultural
norms. Urban conservation would thus be an assemblage of elements of different
periods, made coherent through landscape design and signage.
Historic conservation should be thought of as a “problem of sensibility—as a
way of enriching our image of time” (Lynch, 1987, p. 260). Heritage buildings do
that, but only partially when compared to what may be achieved by conserving
districts (that buildings are a part of) and natural landscape of the city. The river
Gomti had been an edge to the historic city that was first settled on its southern
bank and has guided its growth over a century. The riverbank edged the linear
growth of the city, at least the monumental part consisting of palaces, mansions,
country retreats and gardens that were situated to take advantage of the river’s
expansive views, cooling breezes and ready availability of water. The river and its
banks were a path of movement that not only afforded entries to the buildings and
gardens but also served as places from where they could be viewed, thereby
ensuring a memorable image of the city. Although Gomti is no longer an edge or a
path, it remains the only venue from where large stretches of the historic and the
contemporary city can be glimpsed and accessed. It is this potential that can be
exploited to enhance the sense of time and place that Lynch so eloquently
 The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India 491

describes as the purpose of historic conservation and a key performance

dimension of the good city form.
Much of the historic riverfront landscape has disappeared (although many
historic buildings remain) and new types of landscapes have emerged, yet this is
not as much of an obstacle as it may first appear. A close ‘reading’ of the historic
and contemporary landscapes, their patterns of forms and meanings, reveals that
through selective design interventions and urban linkages, it is possible to
enhance that elusive urban quality that Lynch calls ‘sense of the city’. The 19th
century riverfront was painted and photographed extensively by European and
local artistes—these representations allow us to ‘read’ the cultural landscape as
shaped by picturesque and pictorial conventions of the time. The contemporary
landscape is interpreted by documenting existing open space types, their uses and
meanings. Based upon these ‘readings’, the redesign here of the riverfront
reconciles the past and present by restoring the historic connection between the
heritage buildings and the river and serving as a catalyst for economic and
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cultural revitalization. Thus the proposal is not a thematic recreation of the past
but one whose authenticity is derived from engagement with the ongoing
trajectory of change, in the process reversing decline and ushering in a renewed
engagement of the city with the river.

The River Gomti

Gomti, unlike Ganga or its tributary Yamuna, is not a goddess and is not
celebrated as such in mythology and folklore, yet like all rivers in India its
waters are considered to be purifying for bathing in all auspicious occasions,
and revered enough for worship rituals performed in shrines and temples on its
banks. Unlike Varanasi on Ganga or Mathura on Yamuna, Lucknow’s cultural
heritage was not dominated by the river’s religious associations due to the city’s
very different historical trajectory that was largely characterized by a long
period of Islamic rule. It was utilitarian, not spiritual aspects of Gomti that lay
behind the monumental landscape taking shape on its banks in the 18th – 19th
centuries. The settlement that existed prior to coming of Nawabs was centred
around Lakhman-Tila, a promontory on the river bank and also a sacred site,
associated with Laskmana, a character from the epic tale Ramayana and an
incarnation of Shesha-naga, the mythic serpent supporting the universe. The
Nawabs (rulers of Avadh kingdom), followers of the Shia sect in Islam, founded
the city of Lucknow that developed into a centre for arts and culture, its richness
derived from the mixing of many traditions in the court—Islamic, Hindu and
European. The river was the lifeblood of the city that developed on its banks
and drew its sustenance from it. As a transportation artery for essential and
luxury goods, and as the primary source of irrigation for the gardens, orchards
and farms lining its banks, the Gomti would have probably played a crucial role
in the economic life of the city. In its social life the riverfront would also have
been a pleasurable setting, whether in the walled confines of private garden or
the public places where boats docked. The cool breezes, the spacious feel of its
wide expanses, and the distant vistas it afforded, made Gomtifront an attractive
landscape where the Nawabs, not surprisingly, chose to build their palaces
(Llewellyn-Jones, 1997). The remnants of these monumental structures, now
bereft of their contextual landscape, today constitute Lucknow’s architectural
heritage.
 492 S. Nagpal & A. Sinha

The Nawabi Landscape

Gomti riverfront in the Nawabi period (1775 –1856 CE) was an elite landscape of
palace and suburban gardens, country houses and parkland. This landscape
evolved rather quickly as each succeeding Nawab sought to make a political
statement through grand architectural gestures—secular and religious. Although
opinions about Nawabi architectural style vary—ranging from ‘bastardized’ to
‘hybrid’—architectural historians and critics agree that the jumble of buildings
that constituted a palace complex were related to each other through courts and
gardens (Llewellyn-Jones, 1985; Tandon, 2001). A complex interior landscape
emerged in which space flowed easily between indoors and outdoors. The fact
that three out of four palaces were situated on the riverbank and one not too far
away, is indicative of the value placed on what proximity to a river afforded—
cooling breezes and expansive views, boat rides for pleasure, a relief from the heat
and congestion of the city, and a plentiful source of water for the many gardens
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within the palace complex. While the high walls of Macchi Bhavan built on a hill
presented a fortress-like appearance, the buildings of Chattar Manzil complex
were built into the river with arched openings that allowed the water to flow into
the lower floors (Llewellyn-Jones, 1985; Gordon, 2006). Roof top terraces and
pavilions were an opportunity to linger and enjoy the river in all its moods from a
high vantage point.
Walled gardens on the river, built independently of palaces, were a retreat to
which the Nawabs and their begums often retired. Vilayaiti Bagh, named after
Nasir-ud-din’s European wife, and Hazoori Bagh had dainty pavilions and water

Figure 1. Gomti River, from Oriental Scenery by Thomas and William Daniell, 18th century (British
Library).
 The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India 493

channels. For more aggressive pursuits, the riverbank provided open grounds
where partridges and quails were hunted and elephant fights were staged (Sinha,
1996). Country houses such as Musa Bagh, Bibiapur Kothi and Dilkusha, although
designed in the style of European villas, and quite unlike the other palace
complexes, were also deliberately built on the banks of the Gomti River and were
used as weekend retreats by the Nawabs and their retinue (Llewellyn-Jones, 1985;
Das, 1998, 2006).
Although this landscape was similar to the Yamuna riverfront in Agra during
the 16th –17th centuries lined by Mughal gardens and palaces, the differences
were in the extent of development and also in the quality. Nawabi architecture and
gardens were derivative of the Mughal design style yet different. The passage of a
century and half had ensured that new influences on architectural form and
detailing would creep in, most notably European. This resulted from the nexus of
political and commercial relationships between the Shia rulers and Europeans in
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their court (Fisher, 1997). Claude Martin, the French superintendent of Nawab
Asaf-ud-daulah’s arsenal, through his unusually designed buildings on the
riverfront—Farhat Baksh, Musa Bagh and La Martiniere—set in motion new
trends followed in many Nawabi buildings. These buildings were designed with
the landscape—Musa Bagh/Baroween was built into a hill at its rear while its
grand front opened into Gomti that entered into the lower floors of Farhat Baksh.
Further downstream, Constantia—his mausoleum—was built on the Gomti
floodplain with its seven-storey monumental façade topped by the crest that
became the Nawabi signature, and was fronted by a 120-foot high lighthouse in an
artificial lake (Llewellyn-Jones, 1985; David, 2006).

Figure 2. La Martiniere during the Mutiny from General Views of Lucknow, Sir D.S. Dodgson,
19th century (British Library).
 494 S. Nagpal & A. Sinha

The early representations of the Gomti riverfront, watercolours by Hodges

(c. 1782) and Daniell (c. 1789) are picturesque depictions of an oriental scene
(Figure 1). Domes and minarets can just be seen over the green foliage on the banks
of the river linked by the arched stone bridge; elephants casually stroll on the bank
and bathe in the waters; small boats with tiny fishermen dot the serene and tranquil
landscape. There are also festive depictions of hunting processions and fireworks
displays befitting the image of a bustling oriental city. Llewellyn-Jones describes
the river as a “place of celebration and partying”, where the “Nawabs and their
courtier would drift up and down in their ceremonial barges, the filcharrah or
elephant-prowed boat, the peacock-headed punt, and the swan boat”. She
describes the “small punts laden with showers of fireworks moored in the river to
add the general merriment and echo the enormous fireworks set off on the banks
where European bandsmen played tunes before the palaces” (Llewellyn-Jones,
2001).
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The Colonial Landscape

These idyllic scenes on the Gomti riverfront were rent asunder by the
Uprising/Mutiny, a momentous event that changed the course of Lucknow and
of India. After the last Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was deposed and exiled to Matiya
Burj (near Calcutta) in 1856, and administration of Avadh passed into the hands of
the East India Company, widespread dissatisfaction among the Indians led to the
Sepoys (Indian soldiers) revolting and setting fire to the cantonments in a number
of places, including Lucknow. The European Residency, built on one of the three
hills on the Gomti riverfront containing a total of 6398 people, was besieged from
June to November 1857 (Hilton, 1934; Llewellyn-Jones, 2006). Battles were fought
between the Indians led by Begum Hazrat Mahal (wife of deposed Wajid Ali Shah)
and the East India Company troops in the gardens on the Gomti –Sikandar Bagh,
Shahnajaf Imambara (religious complex), La Martiniere (mausoleum complex of
Claude Martin), and Musa Bagh (Figure 2). The Mutiny became a historic event
celebrated in British chronicles, and the subject of many paintings that showed
pitched tents and troops massed on the riverfront ready for battle (Gupta, 2003).
The failed uprising led to drastic political, social and economic changes in the
Awadh kingdom (as elsewhere), reflected in the urban landscape—highly visible
on the Gomti riverfront in Lucknow. Felice Beato’s panoramic photographs taken
in 1858 capture the eerie desolation in the immediate aftermath of the events
(Lifson, 1988). The placid Gomti flowed in a ravaged landscape where carcasses of
once opulent palaces stood silently in a warren of more pedestrian buildings, all
uninhabited. The Gomti had lost its splendor. A 200-metre swathe was cleared on
its banks around Macchi Bhavan (partly demolished) and it became the focal point
of three 50-metre wide roads built by Robert Napier, a military engineer in charge
of rebuilding Lucknow. This urban surgery, in a bid to quell any further uprising
through rapid movement of troops, not only opened up the Nawabi palace
interiors to public gaze but also moved traffic away from the river towards the
south where a new cantonment was built next to the Railway Station (Oldenburg,
1984). The centre of power had obviously shifted from the riverfront although
many Nawabi buildings on the riverfront continued to exist and over time were
occupied by new owners. However, most river entrances and water gates became
obsolete with lack of use and the city gradually turned its back on its river
(Llewellyn-Jones, 2006). With the coming of the Railways in 1862, Gomti lost its
 The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India 495

preeminent position as a transportation artery. Lost too was recreational travel to

and fro from the pleasure gardens and palaces that had made the river akin to an
urban boulevard of sorts. With time it was relegated to being urban backwaters,
ignored and invisible until it flooded, causing havoc to life and property. Thus
new modes of transportation (railways, automobile), changes in the political
structure (from king to colonial and then post-colonial governments), and
economic shifts (from agrarian to industrial) were responsible for the city turning
its back on the river.

The Contemporary Landscape

Gomti riverfront today shows a complex pattern of land uses. There is extensive
cultivation on its floodplain, juxtaposed with very urban uses, especially on the
southern bank towards the west in proximity to the traditional core of Lucknow.
The banks of the River Gomti make up a vernacular landscape, an expression of the
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everyday life. Once an arena of the rich and powerful, the landscape today is home
to the poor and marginalized and also caters for the recreational needs of the larger
public in its parks and plazas. The urban riverfront typology is varied, reflecting
both structured and unstructured spaces, programmed and ad hoc uses. Like other
open spaces in the city, it is fine grained, i.e. there is a mix of types in a small area.
Most visible is the religious use and the sacred spaces that it has spawned. Gomti,
although far below Ganga and Yamuna in the hierarchy of reverence attributed to
rivers in Hindu mythology and tradition, has attracted fervent religiosity, visible in
the many widely visited shrines on its banks in Lucknow (Figure 3a). Among the
popular shrines are Hanuman Setu, Shani and Mahakali on the cremation ghat
(steps to the river)—these receive devotees from all over the city—while others that
are smaller and lesser known are patronized by those living in their vicinity.
The unstructured activities on the floodplain range from children playing
cricket, flying kites and other games that require larger areas which are at a
premium in the congested old city (Figure 3b). The most frequent activity is
washing and drying clothes on the riverbank as the river is major source of water
for the city’s washermen (Figure 3c). Squatter communities of rag-pickers have
made the floodplain their home in short stretches below the bridges. In short
stretches at the edges of the city there is floodplain farming of vegetables and
fruits that can grow in moist sandy loam.
Parts of the riverfront have been designed in the last few decades to serve the
recreational needs of the city. This design typology includes parks and memorial
plazas, built and maintained by the Lucknow Municipality and Development
Authority. Of the two memorial plazas on the riverfront, the older one—Shaheed
Smarak—is a memorial to the 1857 Uprising (Figure 4a) while Kuriya Ghat, built
recently in 2003, celebrates Gomti’s legacy to the city (Figure 4b). Shaheed
Samarak is built on a terrace overlooking the river with an expansive view.
A magnificent memorial complex to Dr. Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalits
(lower castes) was completed in 2004 by the Bahajun Samajwadi Party near La
Martiniere (Figure 4c). Unlike the Nawabi palaces of the 19th century, it is not
accessible from Gomti, although it is located close to its bank.
From early on in this decade, the State Government had made a concerted
effort to ‘beautify’ the riverfront by ‘greening’ it. Approximately 400 000 people
cross the bridges daily to go to work in offices south of the river from the
residential colonies that have developed during the post-independence period
 496 S. Nagpal & A. Sinha
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Figure 3. Ad hoc uses on the Gomti flood plain: (a) shrine; (b) children playing on the maidan; (c) washing.
 The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India 497
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Figure 4. Recent memorials on the Gomti: (a) Shaheed Smarak; (b) Kuriya Ghat; (c) Ambedkar
Complex.

in the north. Large-scale planting in the hitherto derelict sites or those occupied by
the squatter communities is being done in an attempt to make the riverbank
‘green’. The planting of trees such as eucalyptus is not exactly ecological
restoration and it does not make for a public, accessible landscape.

Riverfront as a Heritagescape
Missing in these efforts is any attempt to connect with and represent the Nawabi
heritage of Lucknow. Although parts of the riverfront are designated as cultural
heritage zones, it is not clear how these heritage zones should be conserved and
managed. They contain a cluster of heritage buildings; however, each historic
precinct is walled off from its urban context and maintained by the Archaeological
Survey of India or a religious Trust. The public spaces—riverfront, streets and
other open areas—are not considered as extensions of heritage precincts and are
therefore left unmanaged. All traces of Nawabi riverfront gardens have vanished
(with the exception of Sikandar Bagh, part of which was transformed into
Botanical Gardens during the colonial era and Vilayaiti Bagh, which is badly in
need of restoration) and in the absence of archaeological or archival evidence,
there is little incentive to recreate them.
 498 S. Nagpal & A. Sinha

Heritage revitalization on Gomti riverfront thus would imply not the

recreation of non-existent historic settings but a strengthening of the relationship
between the extant historic architecture and the river, achieved through creative
reinterpretation of the past landscapes. This approach does not aim at the physical
re-creation of the historic landscape, but instead attempts to recreate its
ambience and vitality. ‘Heritage’ encompasses both material structures—historic
landmarks and landscape remnants—and its intangible aspects—practices,
living traditions and memories associated with river.
Lucknow’s cultural heritage is, of course, much more than the sum of its
historic monuments. Its legendary tahzeeb (courtesy), cuisine, handicrafts, music
and dance gharanas (schools) are perhaps more famous today than its monumental
heritage (Sharar, 1975; Graff, 1997; Dev, 2003; Mangalik, 2003). Although battle-
weary and time-worn, Lucknow’s architectural heritage is protected by state
institutions and religious trust, while its intangible cultural heritage is under
threat. With adequate incentives, including the provision of public settings where
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arts and crafts can be produced, exhibited and sold, this intangible heritage has
the possibility of becoming an identifiable and accessible public good. This would
also bring an economic dimension in the use of civic spaces to the Gomti riverfront
that have been so far developed by the Lucknow Development Authority as
recreational and memorial spaces with no commercial uses.
Lucknow’s architectural heritage is most visible from the river and it would
not be impossible to imagine parts of the riverfront showcasing both the tangible
and intangible elements of the city’s cultural heritage (Llewellyn-Jones, 2003).
The riverfront in the designated cultural heritage zone in the Lucknow Master
Plan is used intensively in parts, but vacant stretches do exist on the floodplain
that present an opportunity to showcase Lucknow’s tangible and intangible
heritage and weave together diverse patterns of the riverfront in a continuous
corridor. Local uses and spaces would be supplanted by public spaces with civic
functions, but would also vastly expand access and use of the river and thus
restore to some extent the primacy it enjoyed in 19th century Lucknow.
The development of such civic spaces would displace squatter communities,
grazing and floodplain farming, but would also simultaneously generate
alternative modes of employment and revenue. Squatters eke out a precarious
existence in the floodplain, subject to periodic flooding when the Gomti rises in
the monsoons, and have no sanitation facilities. Riverfront revitalization presents
an opportunity to planners and development authorities to make a serious
commitment to finding alternative and better sites for their housing.
Visualized as a ‘heritagescape’, i.e. as a unified landscape of heritage, as
opposed to de-contextualized, walled or fenced-in historic monuments with their
relationship to their urban context and the river lost, the riverfront can be
developed as a truly public realm accessible to all (Garden, 2006). Here citizens and
visitors can orient themselves in time and space and make sense of how the urban
past continues into the present through an introduction to its intangible (crafts
traditions) and monumental architectural heritage. The riverfront spaces, designed
for exhibiting and selling traditional crafts, can be a catalyst in preserving
intangible aspects of the city’s heritage. The riverfront can provide a public corridor
of access to the historic precincts, heritage buildings and to the more recently built
parks and public monuments. These memorial spaces would introduce the resident
and visitor alike to the city’s historical narrative, its events and figures.
 The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India 499

The character of this heritagescape would be guided by adjacent heritage

precincts and land use patterns. First, physical access to the historic building from
the river needs to be restored. This would require the redesign of the riverbank as
well as of the building grounds. Nineteenth century paintings and photographs
could be consulted for this purpose, although complete restoration of the historic
landscape may not be possible or even desirable. A guiding principle in redesign
should be to create public spaces that facilitate traditional rituals, everyday uses
and also make symbolic gestures (in the form of public art) towards the heritage
precincts in their vicinity. To integrate preservation of the intangible heritage into
the riverfront redesign would entail designing spaces for workshops, exhibitions,
cultural festivals and music and dance performances.

Intangible Heritage
The riverfront has clusters of historic buildings of the Nawabi and colonial
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period—for example, the Chowk Zone lies close to the heart of old Lucknow;
further east lies Residency Memorial Complex and even further downstream is La
Martiniere. The Chowk is not a protected heritage precinct and in spite of its
dilapidated physical condition, its significance as a centre for crafts and cuisine
remains undiminished. In connecting and extending its uses to the riverfront,
Lucknow’s intangible heritage will find a very visible, public setting. The riverfront
site can act as a portal to the historic Nawabi city with its retail and exhibit spaces
set against a backdrop of monumental historic architecture that include the Bara
and Chota Imambaras, Jama Masjid and Tilewali Masjid, Husainabad Tank and
Clock Tower, Sat Khande, Rumi and Hussainabad Darwazas. Most of these
monuments lie on the 1-kilometre long artery that used to be a historic route of
ceremonial processions (Figure 5a). The historic street—Chowk—is approximately
1 kilometre south of this axis, flanged by residential Old Lucknow (Hjortshoj, 1979;
Sinha & Kant, 2000). Urban crafts featured in this development would showcase
the products of intangible heritage of Lucknow—chikan (a type of pattern)
embroidery, silverware, attar (perfumes), tazias and kite making, and gota weaving.
Three sites are proposed for this crafts village—a crafts plaza east of Kuriya Ghat
(Figure 5b) for small-scale retail and trade traditionally plied in the Chowk, and
across the river an exhibition plaza for the exhibition/sale of crafts and art
performances, and a Chikan Park (Figure 5c) where chikan work is produced.1

Memorials
As Lucknow expanded eastwards during the 19th century, the British Residency
and the later Nawabi palaces monopolized the riverfront. Today the embankment
cuts off the Residency Memorial Park, the Chattar Manzil complex (now the
Central Drug Research Institute), and Moti Mahal from the river. Behind them lie a
number of heritage sites—what is left of Kaisrbagh, the last Nawabi palace, and
historic and new parks, Begum Hazrat Mahal and Suraj Kund, Gandhi Memorial
Building and Parivartan Chowk, a memorial plaza. These lie in close proximity to
a stretch of the riverfront currently housing the squatter community of rag-
pickers, the Shaheed Smarak and a shrine complex.
It is proposed that this stretch is redesigned as a point of entry to the many
memorial parks and plazas in this part of Lucknow (Figure 6a). The Residency
Memorial Park (Figure 6b) commemorates the Mutiny from the British point of
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500
S. Nagpal & A. Sinha
 The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India 501
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Figure 5. Sites of intangible heritage: (a) Core of Nawabi Lucknow, (b) Crafts Plaza, (c) Chikan Park.

view in its numerous building ruins, obelisks, plaques and graves, testimony to
the siege, lives lost, and eventual victory (Llewellyn-Jones, 2007). The Indian
version of the Mutiny events can be narrated in a riverfront plaza next to Shaheed
Smarak, the two together commemorating the First War of Independence
(Figure 6c). From these two memorial plazas it will be possible to walk to the
grounds of Chattar Manzil (Figure 6d) that would be publicly accessible as a
riverfront garden.2
The flow of the Gomti is controlled by a barrage, east of which the river flows
freely, and is susceptible to seasonal vicissitudes. In this stretch, riverfront uses
decline sharply, raising the possibility of planning for ecologically oriented land use
patterns. In addition to floodplain farming and orchard cultivation, natural
wetland habitats for river flora and fauna are recommended. The significant
historic sites here include the La Martiniere Estate and Dilkusha, both dwarfed by
the recently built Ambedkar Memorial and Vilayaiti Bagh, a riverfront Nawabi
garden. In restoring the riverfront entry to La Martieniere, a school building but
also a mausoleum to its builder, Claude Martin, the hitherto grazing and ill-kempt
land would be transformed into a publicly accessible heritage landscape (Figures 6e
and Figure 6f). Constantia or La Martiniere is a unique and spectacular building
sited deliberately on the riverfront complete with a lighthouse (Lat) in a lake. It was
meant to be seen and accessed from the river, a relationship that was lost over time
due to silting of the lake and the construction of the embankment.3

Conclusion
Based upon ‘readings’ of the historic and contemporary cultural landscape, the
design proposal for the riverfront reconciles the past and present by restoring the
historic connection between heritage buildings and the river. The plan when
implemented can be a catalyst for economic and cultural revitalization of the
riverfront so that it is a public realm for all. Revitalization does not imply
 502 S. Nagpal & A. Sinha

a thematic recreation of the past but one whose authenticity is derived from
engagement with the ongoing trajectory of change, in the process reversing
decline and ushering in a renewed engagement of the city with the river. Gomti
can be visualized as an aquatic heritage trail with boat rides to the historic
buildings and to new monuments and public places arrayed along its banks
(Figure 7). A journey downriver today affords exciting possibilities of viewing the
city and visiting its historic and new monuments. It would commence at the Musa
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 The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India 503
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Figure 6. Historic memorial sites: (a) Context, (b) Residency, (c) Chattar Manzil, (d) Mutiny Memorial,
(e) La Martiniere School, (f) La Martiniere Park.

Bagh, go past the floodplain farms, with the first stop at the Kuriya Ghat and
Crafts Village from where a heritage trail can be taken to the historic Imambaras
and mosques. The second stop at the Mutiny Memorial introduces the visitor to a
very significant point in Lucknow’s history. From here it is possible to explore the
many memorial parks, plazas and buildings that were built in the post-mutiny
phase, and the later Nawabi palaces. As the journey continues further
downstream towards the east, past the orchards and flood plain farms, the
domes of the Ambedkar Memorial Complex are visible, leading the visitor to the
last stop in the journey—La Martiniere—from where a trail can be taken to
Dilkusha Gardens. Gomti will once again introduce Lucknow and its history to
the visitors and its citizens as it had done in the past.
The Gomti riverfront revitalization can be a model for urban conservation
efforts in many other cities of the Indian subcontinent whose historic core
developed along a river. For example, the historic monumental core of Agra and
Delhi on the banks of the Yamuna riverfront has been preserved, but is cut off from
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504
S. Nagpal & A. Sinha

Figure 7. Riverfront heritage corridor.

 The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India 505

the river and its urban context. The Master Plans drawn up every decade or so by
the Town Planning Departments of riverfront cities should be guided by an urban
conservation policy that aims to string together isolated heritage parks and districts
into a linear corridor along the riverfront. This should be done through open space
development along the riverfront that can be the connection between the historic
complexes and the river. This green infrastructure will transform mostly derelict
sites along the riverfront into civic spaces and should be designed with a palette of
forms and materials in a creative reinterpretation of historic landscapes. The open
space typology can be diverse, consisting of recreational and memorial parks,
heritage landscapes, riverfront walks and plazas, that reintegrate the city with the
river. In this open space continuum, traditional practices of bathing in the river and
worshipping can be accommodated, as can the production of traditional arts and
crafts that showcase intangible heritage. Expanding the focus of conservation
efforts to include the landscape would not only be an appropriate gesture
in heritage management but would also contribute towards urban revitalization.
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Riverfront revitalization can thus be a powerful contributor in enhancing the sense

of the city.

Notes
1. The crafts plaza on a 12.8-acre site consists of 210 brick kiosks with pitched fabric roofs arranged
around courtyards. The outer courtyards open up to the river edged by kunds that can become social
spaces for sitting and gathering. The plaza is connected by a bridge of boats to the exhibition plaza
on the opposite bank consisting of series of interconnected open galleries with sloping tiled roofs
supported by brick columns. Performances can occur in the central sunken green spaces edged by a
stretch of ghats. A Chikan Park showcasing production of chikan embroidery is designed for the
eastern part. The sequential production process of embroidery, dyeing, and tailoring would be
carried out in a fish-shaped (Nawabi symbol) plaza opening on to a parterre garden in a paisley
shape, a popular Chikan motif. Laundering and drying in a colorful display would occur on either
side of the plaza.
2. The Mutiny Memorial is designed as a linear, symmetrical plaza, flanked by mango groves and is a
study in contrast between hardscape and softscape, mass and void. The memorial walk in the plaza
is lined with friezes depicting the various battles, and overlooks the memorial trees planted in
shallow water. Chattris and domed pavilions in the orchards dedicated to the fallen heroes serve as
outlook points to the river.
3. A linear and terraced riverfront entrance park would restore that connection. The Lat in a large
water tank with Constantia as a backdrop would beckon the visitor who, after alighting from the
boat, can traverse through two 400-foot mulberry groves planted in a charbagh pattern, interspersed
with raised plazas where chattris similar to the one adorning Constantia’s facade provide seating
and outlook.

Acknowledgements
The design proposals discussed in the article are taken from Swati Nagpal’s
unpublished Masters in Landscape Architecture (MLA) thesis, University of
Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2007, “The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India:
Revitalization of a Cultural Heritage Landscape”.

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