A concerted effort in re-imagining museums 

News: On the occasion of International Museum Day on May 18, the Ministry of Culture allowed free of cost admissions to all museums which are under its ambit for a week.  

Advantages of making free admission into the museums 

This will make our art and culture accessible to all and also provides an opportunity to propagate our civilisational heritage. 

The provide an opportunity to re-imagine the progress made in our museums and cultural spaces.  

What transformational shift has been visible with respect to our perspectives of our heritage?  

First, there has been a shift from a museum-centric approach to a cultural spaces approach. As India is a continuously inhabited civilisational state, therefore, our art, culture and heritage are part of our museums as well as our day-to-day activities. Therefore, the government has moved to preserve and promote Indian heritage. 

a) Now, the stolen heritages are restored to the original place it was taken from instead of putting into a museum. For example, the recently retrieved idol of Goddess Annapurna was returned to its rightful place at Kashi Vishwanath temple, Varanasi. 

b) Second, the government has moved to build specific-purpose museums rather than rely on general purpose museums. For example, 

– Ten tribal freedom fighter museums are being established across the country to recognise the role of tribal freedom fighters against colonial rule. For example, the Prime Minister launched the Birsa Munda museum in Ranchi. 

– The Pradhan Mantri Sangrahalaya was inaugurated to showcase the contributions made by every Prime Minister of India and to pay a tribute to every PM of India since independence. 

– In addition, the Statue of Unity to showcase the various facets of Patel, the Biplobi Bharat museum in Kolkata, the arms and armour museum at the Red Fort, a gallery on Gautama Buddha in Delhi, and the museum on Jammu and Kashmir have been established. 

c) Third, now museums are looked at with a whole-of-government approach to provide a wholesome experience. India is home to over 1,000 museums representing different cultural, religious and scientific achievements. These museums do not just lie under the control of the Ministry of Culture. In fact, Other Ministries either manage or coordinate. For example,  

– Indian railway manages the Railway museums,  

– The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) assists the National Council of Science Museums, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture to manage its 25 science cities, centres and museums. 

– The government is widening public access through modernisation and digitisation of collections and exhibitions.  

Fourth, the government has moved towards modernisation, upgradation, and establishment of new museums. These institutions will be closer to international standards of museology in the 21st century. 

What are the challenges? 

The adoption of such approaches like a whole-of-government approach among other requires new specialized domains of skills and perspectives. It requires continued upgradation of Human capacities and domain knowledge.  

There are also challenges in modernising our traditional museums to make them more interactive, through technology interfaces, innovative curatorial skills and imaginative storytelling. It needs more imaginative thinking and has a different set of challenges.  

The efforts in digitisation and reprography are painstaking processes that can take several years to complete. 

Way Forward 

The new Indian Institute of Heritage that is being set up as a world class university aims to address these challenges.  

The Ministry of Culture’s first-of-its-kind Global Summit on ‘Reimagining Museums in India’ taught a lot of things which can be incorporated to devise a blueprint for the development of new museums, nurture a renewal framework, and reinvigorate existing museums.   

Source: The post is based on an article “A concerted effort in re-imaging museums” published in the “The Hindu” on 18th May 2022.