Humayun's Tomb among 10 Indian heritage sites set to allow night-time viewing

One of the city’s most popular historical sites, Humayun's Tomb, will now be open for public visit till 9 pm, Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel announced on Monday. Earlier, the closing time for the iconic Mughal Emperor tomb was fixed at 6:30 pm while the opening time was 5:30 am.

Other heritage sites which will join the league, include Safdarjung Tomb in Delhi, Odisha's Rajarani Temple Complex, Sheikh Chilli Tomb of Haryana, Karnataka's Group of Monuments and Gol Gumbaz, Group of Temples in Maharashtra, Man Mahal of Uttar Pradesh and Rani ki Vav in Gujarat.

The opening hours of 10 historical monuments across the country has been extended and now these monuments will remain open from sunrise to 9 pm for common public, Patel said in a statement.

Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel has announced that opening hours of 10 historical monuments across the country has been increased and now these monuments
will remain open from sunrise to 9 pm for common public. pic.twitter.com/3fU8pGp52t

— ANI (@ANI) July 29, 2019

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In Delhi, as of now, only Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Purana Qila and Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khana’s tomb at Nizamuddin remain open from 6 am to 10 pm, while other ticketed sites of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) follows the sunrise-to-sunset rule.

Since 2018, the Culture Ministry has been formulating strategies to extend the timing as the Tourism Ministry had proposed to keep them open till late evening in a bid to engage more visitors.

Visitors are often seen complaining about the lack of entry to historic monuments after sundown. Security guards blow plastic whistles and beat sticks, prompting tourists to disengage and depart when the sky begins to fade into the deepest blue.

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ASI has 116 ticketed monuments across the country, of which 10 are in Delhi, including Taj Mahal, Tughlaqabad Fort, Firozshah Kotla and Jantar Mantar. If the current plan becomes successful, the opening hours may be extended at other sites as well.