Uttar Pradesh: Architecture, Museums, Archives and Archaeology · UPPCS (Uttar Pradesh)

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, General Studies V:
Architecture, their significance and maintainability, museum, archive and archaeology of UP.

Topics in detail

The line asks three things about UP's buildings: what they are (style, builder, period), why they matter, and how they are kept up. It then adds the institutions that hold the past: museums, archives and archaeology.

Buddhist and early historical

Dhamek Stupa and the monastery ruins at Sarnath; the Chaukhandi Stupa with its later Mughal-period octagonal tower
The Lion Capital of Sarnath, adopted as the State Emblem of India
Kushinagar: the Mahaparinirvana temple with the reclining Buddha, and the Ramabhar Stupa
Shravasti: remains of Jetavana; Kaushambi: fortifications and monastery remains

Gupta temples and the Mathura school

Dashavatara temple at Deogarh (Lalitpur): an early stone temple with Vishnu panels
Bhitargaon temple (Kanpur Nagar): one of the oldest surviving brick temples, with terracotta panels
Mathura school: red sandstone images of the Buddha, Jain tirthankaras and Brahmanical deities; the Kushana royal portrait statues

Sultanate and Sharqi architecture

Jaunpur's Sharqi style: the Atala Masjid (1408), the Jama Masjid and the Lal Darwaza mosque, with their tall gateway screens
The Mughal-period bridge over the Gomti at Jaunpur

Mughal architecture

Agra Fort: Akbar's red sandstone walls and Shah Jahan's marble palaces
Fatehpur Sikri: Buland Darwaza, Jama Masjid, Panch Mahal, Diwan-i-Khas and the tomb of Salim Chishti
Akbar's tomb at Sikandra; the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daula (built by Nur Jahan), with early pietra dura inlay
The Taj Mahal: plan, the charbagh garden, inlay work, and its place in Mughal architecture
Khusro Bagh and the fort at Prayagraj
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in UP: Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal (1983) and Fatehpur Sikri (1986)

Nawabi, Bundela and temple architecture

Lucknow under the Nawabs: Bara Imambara (1784, built by Asaf-ud-Daula, with the Bhool Bhulaiya), Rumi Darwaza, Asafi Mosque, Chhota Imambara, Chhatar Manzil, Kaiserbagh
Indo-European buildings: Dilkusha Kothi and Constantia (La Martiniere)
Forts of Bundelkhand and the Vindhyas: Jhansi, Kalinjar and Chunar
Braj temples: the Govind Dev temple at Vrindavan (1590, built by Raja Man Singh)
The Kashi Vishwanath temple rebuilt by Ahilyabai Holkar (1780); the ghats of Varanasi

Colonial buildings

Prayagraj: the High Court, Muir College and All Saints Cathedral
Lucknow: the Residency ruins from the 1857 siege; Charbagh railway station
Kanpur's Memorial Church; civil lines, cantonments and their planning

Significance and maintainability

Significance: historical evidence, religious and community value, identity, tourism income and crafts linked to monuments
Threats: air pollution and the discolouring of marble, encroachment, unplanned urban growth, heavy visitor footfall, floods and seepage, vandalism, theft of antiquities
The Taj Trapezium Zone and the Supreme Court's orders in the M.C. Mehta cases to cut pollution around the Taj
Protected monuments law: the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, with its prohibited (100 m) and regulated (further 200 m) areas, and the National Monuments Authority
State-protected monuments under the state's own preservation law
Schemes: HRIDAY (heritage cities, including Varanasi and Mathura), PRASAD (pilgrimage sites), Adopt a Heritage
Conservation practice: scientific cleaning, use of traditional lime mortar, site management plans, carrying capacity and visitor management

Museums, archives and archaeology

State Museum, Lucknow (founded 1863), Government Museum, Mathura (1874, rich in Kushana sculpture), Allahabad Museum (1931)
Archaeological Museum, Sarnath (1910), the Archaeological Survey of India's first site museum; Bharat Kala Bhavan at Banaras Hindu University
Rampur Raza Library: manuscripts and miniature paintings
UP State Archives (Lucknow) and its regional offices: revenue, judicial and political records of the North-Western Provinces and Awadh
Archaeology: the Archaeological Survey of India's circles in UP and the State Archaeology Department
Major excavations: Sarnath (Alexander Cunningham), Kushinagar (A.C.L. Carlleyle, 1876), Kaushambi (G.R. Sharma), Hastinapur (B.B. Lal), Sanauli
Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 (registration and export control); the Indian Treasure Trove Act, 1878

Overlaps

Indian architecture from ancient to modern times: General Studies I.
Heritage tourism and its management: Tourism: Issues and Prospects.
Pollution and its effect on monuments: General Studies VI.