Journey of National Museum through photos

A month-long exhibition portraying the rich history of the National Museum through 57 photographs that capture the many moods of its making and celebrations was inaugurated here Monday.

The 'Down Memory Lane' exhibition features photographs since the museum's blueprint was fimalised in 1946 to many momentous occasions since that contributed immensely in making the foundations of the institution strong.

These sepia-tainted photographs give a glimpse of this institution's initial struggles in acquiring historical objects that now total over 200,000.

"The exhibition throws light on the museum's many inception-related and growth stories, through archival and rare photographs which we gathered from government institutions and private donors," National Museum Director General Venu V. said.

"It portrays an interesting history of the museum, which typically unveils stories through its exquisite collection of paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and ethnographic objects spanning over 5,000 years of heritage," he added.

Photographs of architects and engineers discussing the construction of the National Museum building, independent India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the museum's then director-general M. Morley standing under the 'mandapa', a pillared outdoor hall, and the 1970s inauguration of the museum's 'in-service museology training programme' are displayed at the exhibition.

The National Museum was designed by architect Ganesh Bikaji Deolalikar and today it has ten important collections -- pre-historic archaeology, archaeology, numismatics and epigraphy, miniature paintings, manuscripts, decorative arts and textiles, anthropology, central Asian antiquities, arms and armour and pre-Columbian and western arts.

The exhibition ends June 12.