Bengaluru: In two months time, work on restoring Krumbiegel Hall will begin. Coincidentally, just as the Horticulture Department decided to go ahead with the restoration, Alyia Phelps-Gardiner Krumbiegel, the great-granddaughter of Herman Gustav Krumbiegel, too heard from them on Saturday. “I have just been told I will be pleased with the result”, says Alyia.
Although activists did hope for an intervention from INTACH, the project is being handled by the Horticulture Department and plans have already been drawn up.
“It will happen, it's going to happen,” an official said.
The turn of the century old structure, situated inside Lalbagh, is one of the few tributes made to the visionary horticulturist and architect, Gustav Hermann Krumbiegel.
Alyia Phelps-Gardiner Krumbiegel
The collapse of Krumbiegel Hall came much to the dismay of Alyia. She has championed the cause tirelessly ever since. “It is our duty to preserve Krumbiegel's legacy, he loved Lalbagh, he loved this city," the official said.
Trees like the tabebuia that bloom in March and April, the two driest months in the year, were the result of Krumbiegel's concept of serial blooming. “He founded the Mythic Society and chose the location for Vidhana Soudha. We had people like Krumbiegel and Mari Gowda who were institutions in themselves.
Unfortunately, today, the people who have inherited this legacy are far removed from it, leaving iconic creations like Lalbagh and Cubbon Park at the mercy of the government. It's time, we as a people take ownership and maintain these structures ourselves.”
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