Conclusion

Abstract The Conclusion restates the main points made throughout the manuscript and then focuses on a recent cemetery restoration project in Calcutta that offers some potentially positive answers to the thorny question of what to do with colonial cemeteries. What makes the restoration of the Scottish Cemetery at Calcutta important is not the actual preservation activities but the process by which they are being done. Lord Charles Bruce’s Kolkata Scottish Heritage Trust has built an international preservation project led by Indian architects and preservation specialists using the latest restoration technologies developed by the Scottish Lime Centre. Importantly for an open restoration space in one of Calcutta’s poorest neighbourhoods, the trust has encouraged buy-in from local residents by making the restoration a community project and by offering training in transferable skills that create opportunity. It is a truly powerful and mutually beneficial international relationship that preserves heritage while strengthening community.