Sgpc Panel To Mull Way To Preserve Gold Foils

[Azaad]

The executive committee of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) is all set to decide on the way to preserve gold foils related to the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Sikh intelligentsia are of the view that the gold foils which are of heritage value as they were prepared and plated during the rule of the legendary king who had taken personal interest in completing the project, must be preserved in a befitting manner for posterity.

They opined that the foils must be preserved for public viewing in a museum.

Meanwhile, 3,278 gold foils and sheets have been lying in a sealed room on the premises of the Golden Temple since they were taken off from Harmandar Sahib after the UK-based Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha (GNNSJ) had initiated regilding the upper portion and domes of the Golden Temple with about 500 kg of gold in 1994.

They are raising questions on the efficacy of protection and preservation of foils. It is apprehended that the proper conservation method might not have been adopted.

SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh said the executive committee would decide on the gold foils and sheets and make sure whether they were being preserved safely in sealed rooms of the complex.

The jatha had arranged artists and master craftsmen from Muradabad, Varanasi, Agra and Makrana (Rajasthan) so as to retain the intricate, precise decorative nature of the embellishments.

Even the craftsmen were given a copy of the interior of Harmandir Sahib before commencing work. The regilding work was initiated after a gap of 170 years as Harmandir Sahib had assumed the name of Swarn Mandir (Golden Temple) when Maharaja Ranjit Singh got the gold plating of the shrine done.

However, the jatha had halted the second phase of regilding the inner portions of the temple after a tussle broke out in the Akali factions led by Parkash Singh Badal and Gurcharan Singh Tohra in 1999.

The UK-based jatha had taken the step after its members had to undergo a lot of inconvenience for completing the regilding work

Though the work was entrusted to the GNNSJ in 1994, it actually took off on February 3, 1995, by Panj Piaras

Meanwhile, the pace of restoration work at Darshani Deori of the Golden Temple was reduced due to recent spells of rain. The restoration work was handed over to a private company run by conservation expert Munish Pandit, Director, Sanrakshan. The experts are conserving the building in a traditional way in which cement is not used.

A Sikh devotee, who did not want to be identified, had promised to bear the entire cost of the renovation work at the Darshani Deori. More than Rs 51 lakh would be spent on the work. Earlier too, an unidentified Sikh had promised to bear the entire cost of the ongoing conservation of Baba Atal.

[Hoshiarpuria]

A lot of old and beautiful small Gurdwaras in Panjab have been torn down under the nose of the SGPC, so there is no hope of preserving anything by them.........they have no idea of the meaning of Heritage!!! Only thing matters to them is the next round of voting !!!!!!!!!

[BhForce]

I have a hard time understanding why in the world the GNNSJ had to replace the gold plating in the first place! Was it just to cover up the bullet holes from the 1984 invasion? By contrast the Jallianwala Bagh bullet holes are preserved and some of them framed:

http://www.daylife.com/photo/080o2ks0Fqd3j

The fact is gold doesn't corrode. Here's what various sources say about gold:

"The tarnish films formed are generally harmless although unsightly and may lead to a black smudging of the skin. Such films can be easily polished off by a jeweler to restore the bright gold color." http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/MatSelect/corrgold.htm

So why wasn't the gold just cleaned, not replaced?

"Gold nuggets do not naturally corrode, even on a geological time scale." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrosion

Geologic time scales are hundreds of thousands, even millions of years. Yet we are to believe the gold was corroded after only 150 years?

"The materials most resistant to corrosion are those for which corrosion is thermodynamically unfavorable. Any corrosion products of gold or platinum tend to decompose spontaneously into pure metal, which is why these elements can be found in metallic form on Earth, and is a large part of their intrinsic value." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrosion

So, if gold reacts at all with anything, it turns back into gold.

I'm amazed at the stupidity of our people, and the malfeasance of the SGPC, and our willingness to tolerate this.