Golden fantasy built on drama and whimsy

Occasionally, a book bridges the gap between coffee-table and scholarly. Lucknow: City of Illusion is one such example, and is the first publication from The Alkazi Collection of Photography. As Ebrahim Alkazi points out in his preface, "Awadh and Lucknow were names that conjured up, in the European imagination of the 18th and early 19th centuries, fantasies of Oriental splendour and opulence". It is these fantasies that the book helps the modern reader to experience.

The architecture of Lucknow depicted in the photographs reflects the splendour and culture of a city that was established by the Nawabs of Awadh (Oudh) in 1775 as a seat of power after the decline of the Mughal Empire, and that came under British control in 1858. The significance of these 19th-century photographs cannot be overstated, especially since several of the buildings they document no longer stand or have been heavily modified. The book brings into the public domain the now-lost urban glory of Lucknow for the first time.

Many of the photographs are works of genius, such as Felice Beato's 1858 panorama depicting Lucknow in a state of ruin, which will leave no reader untouched. Often a single photograph depicts diverse colonial and Mughal architectural elements: urns and battlements, minarets and statuary, circular and pointed arches, colonial mouldings and stone-lattice screens, late Mughal cusped arches in relief among Western classical columns - all of which reveal the fascinating architectural commingling and confusion that epitomised Nawabi Lucknow. Each image, whether it depicts the royal palaces that were built and destroyed or modified, or the ruins of the British Residency, relates a part of the city's story. Much credit is due to Rosie Llewellyn-Jones for editing a compilation that is difficult to put down.

The various photographers are well credited in biographies researched by Stephanie Roy. While several of them are familiar names, for instance Sita Ram, Beato, Samuel Bourne, John Edward Sache and the firm Shepherd and Robertson, others are not. The book takes a welcome step forward in introducing the stories of photographers such as Mushkoor-ud-Dowlah, Ahmad Ali Khan and Abbas Ali Darogah. Archival photographs by these photographers have often been used by conservation architects in India to aid restoration of buildings and landscapes.

Well-researched essays accompany the photographs to complete the picture of the city. In her introduction, Llewellyn-Jones reminds readers that Lucknow's architecture has defied classification. "Critics have described the architecture as degenerate and insubstantial while admirers have defended its panache, drama and whimsicality," she writes. She relates the history of the Nawabi period and the influence - direct and indirect - that the buildings had on its culture. "The majority of their subjects being Hindu, and they themselves from the minority Shia sect of Islam, the Nawabs quickly made Lucknow the centre of Shia faith in northern India - thanks to a series of dramatic buildings and great complexes."

In describing the Residency, Llewellyn-Jones brings alive the building that was under siege for almost six months in 1857. Not far from the Residency, the photographs show boats on the River Gomti. Today, alas, the river plays no part in the city's life.

Sophie Gordon, in her chapter on the royal palaces built by each of the Nawabs, conjures up names of places that have almost completely disappeared or been altered beyond recognition. "Machhi Bhawan, constructed and enlarged during the reign of Safdarjung (1739-54) and his successor Shuja-ud-Daula (1754-75), remained the principal royal residence until the late 1780s when Asaf-ud-Daula built the sprawling collection of buildings known as Daulat Khana. Saadat Ali Khan (1798-1814) built Chattar Manzil; and made it the principal Nawabi residence until the construction of Qaiserbagh, completed in 1852." Even to long-time residents of Lucknow, these names are little more than the names of city neighbourhoods. The engineer Sir Robert Napier "produced a new plan for Lucknow within a week of getting there in March 1858", leading to the destruction of many buildings to make way for "broad new roads".

The Bara Imambara is without doubt the most famous building in Lucknow today. Peter Chelkowski reminds us that it is the "world's largest complex of buildings devoted to the rituals and cult of Imam Husain". I worked as a research assistant to Shakeel Hossain on his exhibition, Ritual Architecture and Urbanity , and this chapter brought back memories of the Muharram festival in the Bara Imambara with mourning songs and the impressive but ephemeral taziyas , portable replicas of the tombs of Husain and the Karbala martyrs, in a highly charged atmosphere.

In a city that boasts the remains of several palaces, it is easy to forget that with the British influence beginning in the late 18th century the country house or kothi also made an appearance in the Lucknow cityscape. Neeta Das explains that the Nawabs "wanted an architecture that would not only symbolise their total dominance in Awadh but would also show their severance from the Mughals". Dilkusha, the most famous of the country houses, now a ruin, is discovered to have been based on the designs of Seaton Delaval, a house in Northumberland designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for Admiral George Delaval; Vanbrugh's designs were published in Vitruvius Britannicus in 1725.

No book on Lucknow is complete without material on Claude Martin, the well-remembered Frenchman in the service of the East India Company who was also a visionary architect. Nina David uses his most famous building, which houses the school La Martini re today, to relate many remarkable events in Lucknow. In India, madrassas (religious schools) were established in many famous tombs including one within the tomb of Nawab Safdarjung. This fact inspired Martin to choose to be buried in a building also meant to serve as a school.

Lucknow does the city a great service. The illustrations could easily form the basis for city interpretation centres for Lucknow residents. One cannot help but compare modern Lucknow, notorious for its caste-based politics, with the more glorious days of the Nawabi city. The book will be enjoyed by a cross-section of society: architects, historians, photographers and non-professionals of all kinds.

One hopes that it will also catalyse some conservation work in Lucknow.

Alkazi's vision should inspire Lucknow's citizens and its leaders to carry out much-needed urban improvements.

Ratish Nanda is a conservation architect based in Delhi, who works as a consultant to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.