Sites in Orchha

Completed Project

Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, India

Site History and Significance

Located along the Betwa River, the town of Orchha in Madhya Pradesh, a large state in central India, is home to many palaces, temples, and cenotaphs, or chhattris. These sites reflect the diversity of the state’s heritage, which includes buildings and fortification walls that span a number of significant time periods in India history.

Our Involvment

The Madhya Pradesh Cultural Heritage Project

In 2011, World Monuments Fund (WMF) began working with the Madhya Pradesh government to realize a project to document and conserve a selection of approximately 40 sites across the state, engaging consultants to assess, document, and plan for heritage conservation projects; develop conservation management plans; and monitor the implementation of select projects to completion. Work undertaken under the umbrella of the Madhya Pradesh Cultural Project is intended to serve as a model of sustainable management for conservation projects in India and around the world.

Among the sites deemed most suitable for primary intervention were the sites of Orchha.

Surveys, Sites Plans, and Documentation

As part of the Madhya Pradesh Cultural Project, WMF has completed total station surveys and site plans, architectural documentation drawings and inventories, condition analyses, and conservation plans for many of Orchha’s most significant sites. At Unthkana, believed to have been built in the late sixteenth century and used as a baradari, or outdoor pavilion, WMF repaired the terraces, paving, and finishes. At Hammam Khana, a bath house, WMF cleared vegetation and trees that were affecting the structural integrity of the building. In addition, conservation projects are underway at Laxmi Temple, Rai Praveen Mahal, Two Khandar, Chaturbhuj Temple, Raja Mahal, and Radhika Raman Temple. Work was completed around 2017.