Snug near Ulsoor Lake is a remnant of colonial history that has become an integral part of independent India’s history too – the Madras Sappers regiment. As India marks eight decades of Independence on Saturday, a part of that history is open to the city’s residents to explore at the Madras Sappers Museum and Archives located within the Madras Engineer Group (MEG) Centre in Ulsoor. Established in 1979, it traces the Sappers’ 240-year journey – from its origins in 1780 through wars, campaigns and playing a key role in military engineering.
With indoor and outdoor sections and three history halls documenting campaigns from the Anglo-Mysore, Anglo-Maratha, Anglo-Sikh wars to the World Wars and post-Independence conflicts, the museum intends to bring history to the public in a fashion that it is brought to life, says director of the Madras Sappers Museum and Archives Colonel Uday Sankeshwar, adding, “The connection with younger visitors is now the central focus.” One of the museum’s newer attractions is a gallery of digitally enhanced archival photographs. Black-and-white photographs have been restored using AI, bringing greater clarity to faces, uniforms and scenes from another era. They have been organised into categories, including pre-World War history, World War I, World War II, pre-Independence and post-Independence. “We have to be catching up with the times. Hence, we enhanced the old photographs in albums and converted a storeroom into a gallery,” says Sankeshwar.
Alongside the uniforms and engineering equipment sits a unique cast iron bell brought from Burma during World War II by 63 Field Company. Among the rarer objects are two cannons associated with the 1799 Anglo-Mysore War, as well as weapons, ceremonial swords and medals used by the Sappers.
The museum also offers glimpses of Bengaluru’s evolution through old maps and sketches. Among the displays are a 1938 map, alongside military records that place the Sappers within Bengaluru’s changing landscape. “Outside the museum too, visitors can see vintage engineering equipment and a locomotive associated with an old train, which was used to transport officers between their residences and the MEG campus,” adds Sankeshwar.
The decision to open the museum to the public is part of a wider effort to bring the armed forces closer to civilians while giving Bengalureans a chance to look at its past and recognise that history may not be as distant as it seems. “The more you become closed-off, the more speculation will take place, and give rise to misinformation,” he points out.
(The museum is open to visitors from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 3pm. For more details, email msmaoic@gmail.com. Entry fee: ₹50 for adults; ₹20 for children below 10 years)