Revealing the Heritage Sites of Karachi City: A Narrative study through the lens of the CEO of Karachi Biennale Trust

Raheela Abro

Abstract

Heritage is the evidence of the background and history of that place where it lies, and it has importance in the cultural landscape of that nation which has existed there. Karachi has various heritage sites but, in this study, a few of them are being discussed which were used in Pakistan’s first mega international event of contemporary art KB17, which stands for Karachi Biennale 2017. KB17 became the source of leading the public towards those spaces of Karachi which have not been explored at most, and which have been lost in its multipart history. Hence, that is the reason behind choosing specifically those few heritage sites of Karachi for this study, which were used in this mega art event. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to know how revealing heritage sites of Karachi plays a part in preserving the culture of this city. Twelve venues have been used in this Biennale, in which six were Heritage sites, including 63 Commissariat Lines, Jamshed Memorial Hall, Pioneer Book House, Frere Hall, Claremont House, and NJV School (Narayan Jagannath Vaidya High School). However, this study reveals the heritage sites of Karachi that needed to be in limelight for the sake of keeping alive the rich culture of Karachi.