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The Mughal Garden: interpretation, conservation and implications M. Hussain, A. Rehman & J.L. Westcoat Jr (Eds) Lahore, Ferozsons (Pvt.) Ltd, 1996, 210 pp., US$69.95 h.b., ISBN 969-0-01299-1
If you have a scholarly interest in Mughal gardens and already know something of their history, this book provides a usefully detailed window onto the challenges facing landscape historians and planners with regard to the conservation of gardens in Lahore and the surrounding region. The book is the result of a collaborative study sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., the Government of Pakistan's Department of Archaeology and Museums, and the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. It is an edited compilation of papers which reflects the range of challenges and opportunities facing those involved in the project.
This was an academic project in the first instance, but it points to urgent and practical conservation needs and the importance of landscape architecture in contributing to the process (as of 1995, there was no professional degree in landscape architecture in Pakistan). James Westcoat Jr's introduction provides a useful overview of the issues: he highlights Mughal tradition and the...