Muziris Heritage Project, a Window to Kerala's Rich History

The Muziris Heritage Project is an attempt to revive the lost legacy by conserving and showcasing the remnants of an ancient civilisation

- Arya Aravind

If travel is considered as a journey to another world, then a visit to the area where Muziris, the ancient legendary port along the Spice Route, is speculated to have situated, will underscore it by providing one the experience of travelling back in time. A trip through the places – roughly stretched between North Paravur in Ernakulam district and Kodungallur in Thrissur district – will find one in the midst of monuments and relics, some of them about thousands of years old, bringing alive elusive images of yore.

Called by Roman author Pliny as ‘the first emporium of India’, Muziris was the most important and active port in the East as early as first century BC where Chinese, Arabs, Jews, Greeks and Romans came to trade in everything from spices to precious stones, and left their imprints.

Every nook and corner, and every building of the area, which is slightly more than an hour’s drive from Kochi, has something to share about the distant past. The historical monuments as well materials unearthed through recent excavations establish it as a unique location which tells the story of more than 3000 years of Kerala, of coexistence and sharing.

The Muziris Heritage Project, an attempt to revive that lost legacy by conserving and showcasing the remnants of an ancient civilisation, saw historians, architects and archaeologists coming together.

The Tourism Department of Kerala has initiated steps to draw the attention of the world to the glorious period of this lost world.