Improving Sustainable Tourism in Thanjavur – A Feasibility Study

‘Tangible Cultural Heritage’ refers to physical artefacts produced, maintained and transmitted inter-generationally in a society. ‘ Intangible Cultural Heritage’ indicates the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their Cultural Heritage. Being the cradle to many of the arts and crafts in South India, Thanjavur is known for its arts like painting, bronze sculptures, and musical instruments. Manufacture of musical instruments like veena, tampura, violin, mrithangam, thavil and kanjira is another economic activity in the city. There are traces of the Marathi music form, Abhang, owing to the Maratha rule in the area. The study aims at preserving the culture of Thanjavur, by envisioning it as a living entity that interacts with its tourists for a wholesome experience. It focusses on design of a cultural experience centre that integrates the tangible and intangible elements of the cultural heritage of Thanjavur. It attempts to thrust on a sustainable tourism development, and improve the living standards of artisans, integrated with providing a multi-sensory experience of the Thanjavur culture to its tourists. The study includes both the tangible and intangible elements of the cultural heritage of Thanjavur. The most common fine arts and crafts in the context of Thanjavur have been chosen to set the cultural backdrop for the project. Contribution of performing arts is limited to the extent of provision for performance areas only, owing to the floating population of the respective artists. The study is limited to the district of Thanjavur.