Heritage Street Amritsar is one of the oldest streets of

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

Punjab, India Punjab (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Himachal ...

, located between the Golden Temple and the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. The street was reconstructed and opened by Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal in on 26 October 2016 as a tourist attraction and open walk street on the lines of open monuments in European cities like

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

History and Background

The Golden Temple is the most visited place in

, with over 100,000 visitors daily. The stretch from Town Hall to Golden Temple was messed with vehicles, overhead cables, encroachments and street hawkers. The idea of Heritage Street was created to develop a revampled, no-vehicle zone with a new 'heritage façade' to each of 170 shops in it. The construction took over 330 days and 1200 people to complete.

Construction

The construction was carried out by Jaipur-based architect Anup Bartaria and his firm called 'Sincere Architects' The facade along with the street that leads to the shrine was redeveloped on lines of European Cities. The idea was to give the place a vintage look, reminiscent of Amritsar that existed 400 years ago. More than 20 buildings and facades were refurbished in the project. Each facade was unique in construction and its requirements. Biggest hurdle was to mount fixtures in public places where there was no space available for mounting. The architects did not want to see the fixtures at all. Town Hall was an existing facade and it was a part of the heritage site. No drilling, external mounting was allowed on the facade.

Key Attractions

* Golden Temple *

Akal Takht Sahib The Akal Takht ("Throne of the Timeless One") is one of five takhts (seats of power) of the Sikhs. It is located in the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The Akal Takht (originally called Akal Bunga) was built b ...

* Partition Museum (Town Hall) * Jallianwala Bagh * Maharaja Ranjit Singh Chowk

Inspiration

Heritage Street in Amritsar was first of its kind concept in India. Upon its success, many more streets are planned and developed on the lines of Heritage Street, Amritsar as follows: * Chandni Chowk in Delhi is being redeveloped on the lines of Heritage Street,Amritsar * Heritage Street in Patiala is planned on the lines of Heritage Street,Amritsar

References

External links

{{Punjab (Indian state), state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Amritsar Tourist attractions in Amritsar Streets in India