In a climate-controlled room in India's capital, restorers carefully piece together rare historical documents and artefacts to rescue irreplaceable fragments that provide a unique window into New Delhi's past.

Experts at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) painstakingly revive crumbling maps and photographs that help track the development of the sprawling megacity now home to more than 30 million people.

The work helps forge a more nuanced understanding of a multi-faith metropolis that has undergone successive waves of settlement and change over several millennia.

"We are preserving memory," said Achal Pandya, who leads the IGNCA conservation lab. "And a country which doesn't have a memory is nothing."

Among the most prized artefacts being restored are the Wilson sur

See Full Page