NEW DELHI: A new museum at Purana Quila — Gallery of Confiscated and Retrieved Antiquities — the first of its kind in the country, is now open to visitors.
The museum houses rare antiquities of various origins, dating from the proto-historic to the modern era, which were confiscated or retrieved by various law enforcement agencies.
Several of them were recovered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) during excavation at different locations.
The confiscated antiquities-- stone and metal sculptures, coins, paintings, ivory and copper artefacts, and architectural panels, were either seized while they were being smuggled out of the country or brought from foreign shores.
The museum was inaugurated by Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Saturday evening. Later, he also unveiled new illumination at the Qutb Minar complex, which has been upgraded from facade lights to architectural lights. In all, 358 LED lights have been installed, which will bring down power consumption by 62 per cent.
Speaking on the occasion, Patel said that it was a matter of pride that the country had been able to retrieve precious parts of its heritage from abroad.
“The number of antiquities recovered in the last five years is the highest ever. The recent success is because of our continuously improving cultural relations with various countries of the world,” he said.
The museum at Purana Quila has been set up in arched cells, which were conserved recently. These chambers were earlier locked and inaccessible to visitors.
Some of the notable exhibits at the gallery are bronze sculptures of Parvati and Sridevi of the Chola period brought back in 2016, a standing Buddha returned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1999, a terracotta Mother Goddess of the Mauryan period brought back in 2016, a Brahma-Brahmani idol confiscated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, a Mithuna idol seized in New York and brought back in 2010, and a Kashmiri Harwan tile returned from New York in 2016.
The gallery will be open to the public from 10 am to 5 pm.