New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a virtual walkthrough of the upcoming Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum that will have multiple thematic segments telling the story of India spanning over 5,000 years.
The walkthrough provides a digital glimpse into the new museum that will be housed at the North and South Blocks, and will be “one of the largest museums in the world”, a senior official in the culture ministry said.
The North Block and the South Block flanking the grand Rashtrapati Bhavan (earlier Viceroy House) on the Raisina Hill were built as part of the new capital — New Delhi — designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker.
Modi unveiled it after inaugurating a three-day International Museum Expo at the Pragati Maidan in which over 1,200 museums are taking part in various segments. It coincides with the International Museum Day.
The Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum will have “eight thematic segments” and it will showcase the rich civilisational culture of India spanning over 5,000 years, officials said.
“These segments broadly include, ancient Indian knowledge, ancient to medieval, medieval, medieval to transition phase, modern India, colonial rule when the Dutch, the British, the Portuguese and others came to India, the freedom struggle and finally the 100 years from 1947 onwards, when we got Independence, and the vision ahead,” the senior official told PTI.
So, it is a “forward-looking museum”, the official said.
The virtual walkthrough also provides a digital insight into how galleries inside and gardens outside will appear, once the museum is completed. It showed that the galleries through exhibits will inform about ancient town planning systems, Vedas, Upanishads, ancient medical knowledge, among others.
Mauryan to Gupta Empires, Vijayanagara Empire, Mughal Empire, and rule of several other dynasties were mentioned in the walkthrough.
The new museum will have an area of 1.17 lakh sqm with 950 rooms spread over a basement, ground and two more floors.
Ancient artefacts and other rich collections of the National Museum here are planned to be shifted to the buildings of the North and South Blocks as part of the project, a senior official had earlier said.
“It (virtual walkthrough) will be a virtual representation of what is going to happen at the North Block and South Block. Because, all the galleries of the National Museum are going to be shifted there. And, it’s part of a plan that is going to be executed. This is what is going to happen in future, and we are at work,” Minister of State for Culture and External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi had earlier said.
Asked about the timeline of the new museum project, she had said, the government always works with timelines, and “we try to finish before timeline”.
In 2021, the government had said the two blocks will house a museum.
The North and South Blocks, part of the Central Secretariat, currently house various ministries and departments, and its iconic buildings exude a charm of an era gone by.
The South Block houses the External Affairs Ministry, the Defence Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, while the North Block has the ministries of finance and home.
The two identical blocks on the Raisina Hill along with the Rashtrapati Bhavan, symbols of architectural grandeur and administrative power, were built as part of the ‘New Delhi’ imperial capital, between 1911-1931. The new capital was formally inaugurated by the then Viceroy Lord Irwin in February 1931.
The Rajpath — a ceremonial axis that runs from India Gate to Raisina Hill — was in September last year renamed to Kartavya Path by the government, and the revamped Central Vista lawns were thrown open to the public.
Asked what would happen to the current National Museum building, Lekhi had said, this will become part of the Kartavya Path and the annexes of the Kartavya Path.
The foundation of the present museum building was laid by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on May 12, 1955.
The first phase of the National Museum building was formally inaugurated by then Vice President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on December 18, 1960. The second phase was completed in 1989. PTI KND ANB ANB ANB
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