Portuguese Built Heritage in West Bengal: Heritage Tourism Towards Promoting Academic and Cultural Relations Between India and Portugal

Abstract

West Bengal is a state within India with a rich architectural heritage. Among the Europeans, the Portuguese were the first to build their own architecture in Bengal. The Portuguese architectural style of Bengal coincided almost exactly with its counterparts in settlements all over India. Nowadays, Portuguese built heritage in Bengal is a point of tourist attraction. Due to the increase in heritage-tourism, there is a remarkable growth of visitors to the built heritage sites in Bengal. Tourism practices in West Bengal are bound together by the twin travel dicta of ‘Beautiful Bengal’ and ‘Atithi Devo Bhavah’ (‘Let us treat our tourists as gods’). Heritage tourism is the tool to establish modern academic and cultural relations between West Bengal (and India, as well) and Portugal. This can be achieved, with mutual benefit, through a 13 systematic effort in promoting interaction between governments, academia, museums and the tourism sector, with a specific focus on activities and areas of common interest and under a philosophy of collaborative approach. The principal vehicles of collaboration may be as follows:

• Support exploratory visits to Portuguese built heritage sites in West Bengal to identify trends and specific areas of mutual interest;
• Promote the exchange and dissemination of information and scientific opportunities through joint workshops, seminars and symposia;
• Create a comprehensive database and reference source of Portuguese heritage in West Bengal, in order to establish linkages and interactions directed towards academic institutions, museums and tourism;
• Exchange of museologists, researchers and technocrats with the aid of grants and fellowships;
• Facilitate and promote joint collaborative projects and programs;
• Create new paths for training in specialized areas of R&D;
• Establish a network of ‘Centers of Excellence’ in advanced areas of R&D in India and Portugal.

The paper will discuss the aforesaid aspects.