NEW DELHI: The Central government’s plan to shut down the National Museum at the current location in the national capital and shifting of its antiquities to some other facility or building, has apparently been put on hold, this newspaper has learnt.
According to museum officials privy to the matter, the plan was put on the backburner because the authority could not find a suitable space to stock the over 2 lakh heritage articles in possession of the current museum, which was established in 1960.
Following uproar over the reports pertaining to the demolition of the existing museum building at Janpath to pave way for new constructions as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project, two officials from the Ministry of Culture took stock of the heritage objects on display at the National Museum sometime in November. During the visit, the museum officials apprised them about the risk associated with the shipping of antiquities in a haste, citing the case study of a similar exercise carried out at Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London.
“The proposal has been put in abeyance for the time being. The officials from the ministry, who visited the museum, were informed that it took three-four years to relocate antiquities at V&A Museum and their attention was drawn towards a short time window for taking objects in the National Museum to other places,” said officials, who wished not to be quoted.
BR Mani, director general of the National Museum, was not available for comment. The call and messages sent to Govind Mohan, secretary, Ministry of Culture, did not elicit a reply.
The museum authority was contemplating start shifting of objects in batches by November. The plan was to vacate the premises and demolish the structure by March after removing antiquities
The ministry officials added that the movement of artefacts would be done keeping in mind all the Standard Operating Procedures issued while loaning an object from one museum to another. They said the security aspects will be followed as per the protocol.
However, they said that the decision regarding the closure of the National Museum for visitors and researchers has not been taken yet. They also indicated that the present National Museum building might not be razed down.
In May last year, the Prime Minister had announced that a new museum would be set up in North and South Blocks, covering 1.17 lakh square metres. The museum officials said that movement of antiquities twice — from the museum to another place, and then to new one to come up in South and North Blocks — is not advisable.