Renovation Update
24 October 2011
New pictures made in BJN last week. See the progress now restoration of the palace is almost completed:
 
BJN 2008 BJN 2011
 
BJN 2008 BJN 2011
Since the start of the renovation activities at the palace in 2008, the palace has transformed from a deserted and shot building to a building that has once more the radiation of a palace. It has become a real eye catcher in the region that you can see from miles on a clear day.
The palace that has been used as a summer retreat for the former royal Afghan family also had important palace gardens. These gardens have been traditionally replanted with a great variety of Afghan fruit and nut trees and many different kind of flowers. For the local community the commitment and local ownership for the Bagh-e Jehan Nama palace goes hand in hand with the garden. A museum is a concept that is not known to everyone in the region, the gardens however already had an important social role in the seventies.
The Central part and West Wing of the palace have been restored from the outside and inside in order to house an ethnographic museum in the near future. The photographs show the transformation of the building in 2008 and the present situation now in 2011.
Heritage for teachers day
30 augustus 2011
As part of our Afghanistan programme, a “heritage for teachers day” was organised in Kholm at 25th of August. It was the first time ever that such a cooperation for awareness of the value of cultural heritage took place in Afghanistan with so many stakeholders.
The day was organised in Kholm at two high schools. Sixty male teachers and fifty four female teachers participated.
BJN Update Spring 2011
23 june 2011
Renovation of the Palace
In both the winter and spring time we have been making a lot of progress with the huge amount of plaster work in the Central area of the building. The sometimes very complicated patterns needed a lot of dedicated attention. The result is quite amazing and together with the new natural stone floor, curious visitors can already envisage the new spatial quality of Bagh-e-Jehaan Nama Museum.
  
The palace dome had a peek and will get a new one. You can see the reconstruction at the pictures.
 
Museum
For the museum we started with 2D and 3D visualizations of the new museum. At this moment we have the first 3D impressions of the West wing.
In the same time we have been working on the basic lighting system and identifying the best possible locations for main and secondary wiring, switches, fuse boxes etc.
Garden
The garden of BJN sheds a positive light on the situation as it seems to become the first element of the project that can claim a high level of self-sustainability. The amount of visitors keeps on increasing and the AFIR team is supportive in the background. The water management/irrigation, the maintenance, the caring for the flowers by local gardeners, the trimming of the fruit trees and the recent initiative to make a labyrinth following the AFIR Landscape Master plan of biodiversity specialist Kala Gurung, are all very positive indicators. The garden plays a quintessential role in the BJN ‘high culture via low culture strategy’, meaning; “to get people to the Museum we first need to get them into the garden.”
 
 
Activities Kholm considered as Good Practice Example in UNESCO Report
5 june 2011
read more
Museum Awareness Weekend at the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace
27-28 December 2010
The concept of what a museum entails, is not clear for all Afghans, especially in the regions where people live further away from a city. Since it is the declared aim of the Ministry of Information and Culture of Afghanistan to establish regional museums throughout Afghanistan and the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace will in the near future become the first regional ethnographic museum, it is very important to make the local communities aware of what a museum can contribute to their environment.
In cooperation with CIE and their local partner AFIR Architects the National Museum in Kabul has organised the first Museum Awareness Weekend for local people in the neighbourhood of the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace.
On the 27th and 28th of December 2010, the director of the National Museum Dr Masoudi and a few of his curators will give presentations at the palace for the local communities on the idea behind the regional museum and especially what ethnographic collections can tell about the cultural identity of a region.
Two photo exhibitions will give a first glimpse on what the communities around Kholm can expect in the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace when it turns into an ethnographic museum.
Capacity Building at the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace
Capacity building is the keyword in the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace project. All the renovation activities concerning the repair work on the palace and the garden walls are characterised by the high level of craftsmanship and historical awareness. The building material is moreover specially made for the palace in the region or otherwise purchased in the region. For example, the pakhsa is a special combination of mud, clay and dung that is mixed and densified by bulls in special fields surrounding the palace. The pakhsa is used for the reconstruction of the garden walls. It is a traditional craft that is executed by pakhsa Ustads (Dari for master) at the palace. Local solutions and responses to challenges of restoration are very important for a sustainable future of the restored building.
For all renovation projects, capacity building programmes are developed so that young and local craftsmen of the region are stimulated in their craft, from carpenters to masons, gardeners, brick makers and lime mixers, they are all involved. Through capacity building people gain knowledge of the place and the history of the region they live in. Besides stimulating the local economy, understanding of the past and development of cultural awareness are included in the capacity building.
Reconstruction of the palace garden walls with the traditional pakhsa system
Bringing plaster ornaments back on the big dome in the central hall of the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace
Carpentry workshop for the next generation of carpenters at the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace
Education on the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace
To be able to create historical awareness amongst the new Afghan generations that have only experienced war in the last three decades, an education plan is being developed in close cooperation with regional schoolteachers. Our local partner AFIR Architects trained the teachers for the specific ‘Kholm for kids’ education programme. They visualised the history of the region for the children on big sheets and they visited the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace as part of their preparation. The programme has already reached more than 500 local children (boys and girls) in 2009 and already up to 1355 in 2010.
  
Children and young adults looking at powerpoint presentations on Kholm and the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace.
Renovation of the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace and Garden
Originally built in 1890-1892 by Amir Abdur Rahman, the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace has been restored and renovated in the beginning of the 1970’s by Sultan Fayaz. The palace had a very large enclosed garden where the local community could have social events. The plan was to turn the palace into a museum after the renovation activities in the 1970’s. An earthquake in 1976, resulting in serious damage, prevented this idea from being implemented. In the following periods of conflict and civil war, a lot of damage and neglect turned both the palace and the palace garden into hollow skeletons.
Starting in 1980 subsequently the Russians, mujahedeen and the Taliban have used the palace until 2001. They have all left their influence on this monument and an extra dimension to the history of the palace.
In 2007 the original plans for a museum could be picked up and the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace community heritage programme started.
A future tourist attraction
With the potential to become a tourist attraction, the option of revitalizing the plan for establishing a museum in the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace was reconsidered. The government of Afghanistan had already established plans to create regional museums and the previous aim to make a museum at the palace fitted into this regional approach.
One of the main factors in favour of a future use of the building as a regional museum for the Afghans is that the location is close to where the highway from Kabul to Mazar-e Sharif enters the northern plains; a location that cannot be overlooked by anybody travelling in either direction. For many people passing, a stop at the impressive Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace complex will be attractive. Secondly, the walled-in garden, approximately 328 m. x 378 m., around the palace, could turn, after structural improvement of the grounds, once more into a highly attractive picnic spot for the local population and travellers. Thirdly, representatives of the Ministry addressed that a museum, apart from covering the history and culture of the northern plains from Kholm (the city in the neighbourhood of the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace), can act as a site museum, which can give special attention to the historic urban centre of Tashqurghan as it existed into the 1980’s.
The local approach
The project on location in Kholm and Kabul. AFIR Architects prepared a survey, measured the site and the buildings and they prepared a photographical survey. In addition to this an experienced structural Afghan engineer did a first survey.
The project itself is developed in close interaction and cooperation with experts from the Department for the Preservation and Restoration of Historical Monuments of the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Director of Museums of Afghanistan, Dr Masoudi. In two ‘project definition workshops’ that were organized in Kabul, many other stakeholders gave their input for the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace.
For the local stakeholders in Kholm many informal meetings were organised to discuss the renovation of the palace and its future functions. Meetings with the head of Police, the National Security representative, and the representatives of the regional and local Ministry of Information and Culture took place. Master masons and gardeners have been consulted for the right approach of the work. In everything that is done in the programme, Afghan ownership has the highest priority. A vision for a participatory process that includes local people is vital for this project.
Community & ownership
Before the war period began, the garden of the palace had a very important role as social meeting place for the local families. The communities have indicated that it is very important for them to have this special place again. A landscape vision and a replanting plan have been designed by our local partner together with the elderly of the local community and the previous gardener who can still remember how the garden looked like before 1980. Next to this, a plan to improve the irrigation facilities has been made. In the autumn of 2009, the first fruit and nut trees were planted in the garden and in April 2010 more trees were planted, up to a total of almost 80 different native tree species in one garden.
Into the future
The Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace is turning once again into a beautiful palace and this time a palace that can function as a museum to show all the visitors the ethnographic heritage of the region. The local ownership and commitment that is purchased in this programme is the firm basis for a sustainable future of this first ethnographic museum in Afghanistan.
The renovated garden with the newly planted fruit and nut trees fulfils a very important social role for the local community. It is a meeting place for picnics and other leisure activities. This binding factor of culture and the importance of a focus on culture and development can’t be made clearer than by the locals who use and develop the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace and garden.
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