By The World Ambassador TWA ______ To enhance the capacity of professionals from the Directorate of Antiquities and Archaeology, Sindh, in safeguarding one of Pakistan’s World Heritage Sites - Historical Monuments at Makli, Thatta, UNESCO organized a three-day workshop from 12 to 14 May 2025 on the effective restoration and conservation techniques for protecting the site.

The workshop focused on enhancing the knowledge and understanding on key heritage management topics, including the World Heritage Convention and Outstanding University Value, ensuring authenticity in restoration projects, and ethical considerations of authenticity, reversibility and minimum intervention. The workshop also provided an opportunity to share the best practices and experiences with the professionals from the Directorate of Antiquities and Archaeology, Sindh. Antony Kar Hung Tam, Officer-in-Charge of the UNESCO Office in Pakistan, underscored UNESCO’s enduring commitment to protecting cultural heritage through local empowerment, international collaboration, and sustainable conservation practices. UNESCO, with the support of the Netherlands Funds-in-Trust, has been and will continue putting its efforts to the conservation of the Historical Monuments at Makli, Thatta, addressing the damage caused by the monsoon floods in 2022.

Abdul Fateh Shaikh, Director General of Antiquities and Archaeology, Sindh, praised the support provided by UNESCO and expressed deep appreciation to the Government of the Netherlands for their continued commitment to heritage preservation. Makli Necropolis, located near Thatta in Pakistan’s Sindh province, is among the largest and most extraordinary funerary sites in the world. Situated around 140 kilometers from Karachi, this necropolis is one of the largest burial quarters in the world with graves, tombs and mausoleums of saints, poets, noblemen, governors, princes, kings and queens. Extending over 10 square kilometers, the Historical Monuments at Makli, Thatta possess around half a million tombs and graves. The architectural styles reflect a rich confluence of Muslim, Hindu, Persian, Mughal, and Gujarati influences. These tombs are particularly renowned for their distinctive, blue-glazed tiles, intricate stone engravings, refined calligraphic inscriptions, and mesmerizing geometric motifs, testifying to the creative and spiritual expressions of vibrant civilization that once flourished in the region. Thatta, being a thriving center of knowledge, arts and culture from 14th to 17th centuries, played a pivotal role in shaping the cultural heritage of the Sindh region. In recognition of its exceptional universal value and artistic legacy, the Makli Necropolis was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. Over the past few decades, the site has faced natural and human hazards. In response, UNESCO has been working closely with the Government of Sindh, to provide technical support in addressing conservation and management issues, deploying reactive monitoring missions and executing conservation and capacity building initiatives. Following the damage caused by the 2022 monsoon, UNESCO mobilized local and international experts, within the framework of World Heritage Emergency Assistance, to undertake damage assessments, capacity building initiatives and immediate remedial measures for emergency stabilization of the site. The impact assessment revealed severe structural vulnerabilities in the Shaikh Jyio Tomb and an adjacent unknown tomb from the Samma period (1351–1524). To address these critical issues, UNESCO initiated a restoration project under the Netherlands Funds-in-Trust, in collaboration with the Directorate of Antiquities and Archaeology, Sindh. UNESCO’s team of international and local experts followed international standards and procedures required for the restoration work, undertook thorough documentation and condition assessment of both tombs, collected historical evidences through archival and archaeological research and material identification and testing to evaluate the suitability of the stones for conservation and restoration work. All these steps helped to appropriately inform the ongoing restoration work at the unknown tomb.