National Museum to show its collection of reserve artefacts

The city-based National Museum will resurrect its 2 lakh reserve of artefacts and put them on display for public on its premises, a senior official said today.
"We have decided to put objects from our reserve on display that we usually do not show, but they are equally important. We have nearly 2 lakh objects in reserve, besides the 7-8,000 objects that are on display," Director General of National Museum BR Mani told PTI.
The museum which displayed the first of its reserve artefacts - a collection of headgears - today on its premises, will now continue the tradition every 15 days.

Lined up are exhibitions on little seen artefacts including paintings, terracota objects and arms and ammunitions which are in the museum's reserve.
"We believe that such exhibitions will give visitors a deeper insight about the museum. The exhibition will change every 15 days and it will be a nice change for visitors who may not have seen these objects because of them not being displayed earlier. There is not enough space in the museum to showcase all objects. Whatever is on display is only a glimpse of the museum's collection," said Mani.
The National Museum has a collection that included antiquities, stone and bronze sculptures, artefacts from Indus Valley Civilisation, mural paintings and jewellery.

It has one of the largest and richest collections in the country. However, the reported space crunch prevented the museum from displaying many of its rare pieces.
According to the audit report of the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) in 2013, less than five per cent of the museum's total collection was put on display for the public.