New Delhi, Jul 21 (PTI) A collection of nearly 2,500 rare objects, including a 19th-century tiger mask and exquisitely designed sarees from undivided India, which were earlier housed at Sanskriti Kendra in Delhi, have now been moved to a new dedicated gallery at the site of the Humayun’s Tomb Museum here.
The new gallery is set to be inaugurated on Wednesday.
Sanskriti Kendra, which had thematic museums depicting a range of artefacts, from everyday items to various textiles, was established by O P Jain, now 97, from his personal collection built over the decades, at Anandagram on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road in south Delhi.
In 2023, the Sanskriti Board of Trustees “gifted” its invaluable collection, barring a few objects and installations, to the nation through the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in Delhi, officials said on Tuesday.
“Following cleaning of the artefacts and reframing of the conserved textiles, IGNCA proposed the display at an exclusive gallery of the Humayun’s Tomb Museum for an initial period of five years during which conservation works on the collection will continue,” the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) said.
The moved collection has been showcased at the Humayun’s Tomb Museum complex as part of a dedicated gallery, stylised as ‘Sanskriti Museum: Everyday Art & Indian Textiles’ and set up by the AKTC in collaboration with IGNCA.
“It is set to be inaugurated tomorrow, in the presence of Union Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal and O P Jain, who has very generously donated his personal collection,” AKTC CEO Ratish Nanda said.
Nanda and Achal Pandya, head of the conservation division at IGNCA, on Tuesday jointly conducted a curated walk for a group of mediapersons ahead of the inauguration.
The Sanskriti gallery will be open to the public from August 1, and the timing will be from 10 am to 6 pm. Entry ticket will be Rs 50 and only 50 visitors will be permitted per hour, the AKTC said.
Sanskriti Kendra was established a few decades ago to create an environment for the preservation of India’s heritage, and to showcase objects that demonstrate excellence in craftsmanship and conceptual innovation, be it in design or functionality.
“O P Jain, now 97 years old, was essentially a paper merchant, but began collecting artistic objects and artefacts since the late 1970s, which formed the nucleus of his collection, and eventually the Sanskriti Kendra in south Delhi. And, we are honoured that about 2,500 of those artefacts are now displayed at our museum,” Nanda said.
At the entry door of the museum, a tiger mask and breast plate of the 19th-century era have been installed, while the inside collection has been divided into various themes, such as toys, lotas, lamps, women’s beauty (bags, jewellery boxes, etc.), ‘paandan’ and a range of textile objects.
The textile items include sarees of the 19th and 20th centuries, Jamdani saree of Dhaka (then part of undivided India), and other rare weaves demonstrating styles such as Phulkari (undivided Punjab) and double Ikkat (Patan Patola of Gujarat region), among others.
Besides, two large ‘dastarkhwan’ — traditional dining spread cloth, bearing verses from the holy Quran in Persian — are also part of the display, according to the officials.
Monumental clay horses and elephants from the Ayyanar terracotta traditions from Tamil Nadu, also a gift of the Sanskriti Foundation, have been displayed in the Humayun’s Tomb museum courtyard and an ornate heritage wooden gateway, which earlier was at Sanskriti Kendra, has also been displayed facing the museum building.
Delhi-based IGNCA and AKTC will also collaborate to organise research projects, and a plan is also to conduct public lectures and other programmes, focused on the Sanskriti collection at the museum.
The IGNCA works under the purview of the Ministry of Culture.
Humayun’s Tomb Museum, the country’s first sunken museum, at the site of Humayun’s Tomb complex in Delhi, where the story of the Mughal emperor and lesser-known facets of his life come alive, was inaugurated in July 2025 by Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Humayun’s Tomb complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it comes under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). PTI KND KSS KSS
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