Feature - Hasta Shilpa Heritage Udupi

The Norwegian Ambassador, Ms. Ann Ollestad, inaugurated the Mangalore Christian House in the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village in Manipal on 28 April

The Heritage Village contain 15 restored buildings/structures including landscaping and documentation which include picture materials and a written description of the restoration process and the story behind the various structures at the site. The Village is run by the Hasta Shilpa Trust, which collective efforts have great local support.

The person behind this magnificent collection, Mr. Shenoy – a former bank man – has spent 30-40 years of his life collecting, restoring and securing the buildings and artefacts. Mr. Shenoy’s detailed knowledge about the buildings and artefacts in the heritage village is invaluable. He is now a man in his seventies, but still working tirelessly to complete the heritage village to the point of opening it for the public. This is foreseen to take place eights months from now.

The Hasta Shilpa Trust invited the Norwegian Ambassador to inaugurate the Mangalore Christian House – once the property of a famous Christian Mangalore family. The Mangalore Christian House, contain furniture and items typically to a Roman Catholic home of the twentieth century: an attractive front terrace with armchairs, a writing desk, several bedrooms with tall wooden beds, a swinging cradle, a store full of different kerosene lamps and an attractive kitchen and dining room with colourful pottery – not to mention the car port containing old imported American cars!

The restoration and conservation of the Heritage Village was realised with support from the Norwegian government in the years 2003-2006. The Trust is now working on the challenges of how best to run the Project after the opening to the general public. The Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village is expected to add economic and cultural value to Manipal in the form of increased tourism to the area.

The Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village

The site is situated centrally in Manipal on an attractive hill within a fenced and secured area. The various buildings are neatly organised in streets. Some of the restored houses are several hundred years old. Each building has been collected from different places in Karnataka, some dismantled in little pieces, restored and put together again with patience and specialised craft skills. At the point of their rescue, by Mr. Shenoy, some had already fallen apart and were about to be destroyed for ever.

Only natural, traditional building materials are used in the restoration work, like vegetable colours used for the different wall decorations and mud wash in earthen colours. In addition to the buildings, the large and well kept collection of items, artefacts, and restored shops in the village streets is a surprise to visitors. Here one can see an old soda factory, tailor shops, a radio repair work shop and a bangle shop just to mention a few. On the first floor in a large building with rare wooden pillars running along one of its sides, there is a large collection of temple art – beautiful gold plated god images painted centuries ago.

The Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village is a unique heritage collection in itself. Further, the Project, with the close ties to Manipal University, has the potential to develop and sustain in areas like tourism, culture and research cooperation.

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