The Mumbai-based Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya’s ‘Museum on Wheels’ has traversed urban and rural areas in several parts of India, spreading knowledge about art, heritage and culture.
Having begun its maiden Delhi tour on May 18 as part of the International Museum Expo, the state-of-the-art buses showcasing with artefacts, replicas, models and dioramas will visit prominent places in the city till May 28. There is no entry fee.
The project has been running successfully for the last seven years and its two air-conditioned buses, which are customised to house mobile exhibitions, aim at surpassing the conventional museum experience and bringing history closer to people in cities as well as remote areas.
The two buses are themed on ‘In tune: The journey from sound to music’ and ‘100 years of CSMVS’.
“The basic idea of the project is if you cannot come to the museum, the museum will come to you. We recognised that education in arts and culture is very important especially in the rural areas,” Atreyee Chakravarty, an education facilitator associated with the project, said.
“In cities, there are various museums but in remote areas, many people have not studied history and have a limited exposure to such things. So, to introduce people to the concept of museums, this project was started,” she said.
“When the project started, the first bus was given by the Ministry of Culture and after that, the project has been supported by CitiBank for the past seven years,” Chakravarty added.
On the current tour, she said the plan for Delhi started with an invitation from the Ministry of Culture to participate in the International Museum Expo. “This is the first time we have come here and it is also the farthest that the buses have ever travelled, covering almost 1,500 kilometres from Mumbai to Delhi,” Chakravarty said.
“At the museum expo, we got great response from people intrigued by the idea of a mobile museum. There are a lot of other institutions who expressed interest in building their own museum on wheels as it is a great way to reach out to people across the country and draw them to museums,” she said.
“In Delhi, we have tried to collaborate with various institutions like the National Bal Bhavan, National Gallery of Modern Art, and the National Science Centre among others to display our ‘Museum on Wheels’. When we parked our buses at these locations, we got a great response and several NGOs working for underprivileged children also approached us,” Chakravarty said.
Till now, over 8,000 people have visited the two buses, she added.
Monika, a parent who visited the Museum on Wheels, said, “It was an amazing experience. Children will get to learn more about the various musical instruments displayed at the exhibition.”
Class 6 student Avnesh said, “It was a one-of-a-kind experience because we usually see these artefacts and antiquities in museums but today, for the first time, I saw them in a bus. I also played a tabla, which I have never done before.”
The Museum on Wheels was stationed at the National Bal Bhavan on Tuesday. It will be at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum and the Red Fort on May 24, the NGMA and the National Museum on May 25, the Sunder Nursery park and Humayun’s Tomb area on May 26, the National Zoological Park on May 27 and the Heritage Transport Museum on May 28.
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