New project aims to digitally connect all national museums

Paintings, sculptures and other cultural treasures and artefacts at national and ASI museums across the country will now be made available digitally as part of a single, searchable database.
All museums which are directly funded by the Centre along with the 44 site museums being run by Archaeological Survey of India have agreed to use a single database and taxonomic system to catalogue their collections, making India the first country to adopt such a nationwide system.
The initiative is a result of the 'Vivekananda Memorial Programme for Museum Excellence' which the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) and the Union Culture Ministry agreed to devise in 2012.

"The major museums in the country have not digitised their collection. Information on various objects is not digitally available. That is where the software will be useful," National Museum Director General, Dr Venu V, told PTI.
The software has been developed by the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
"It will take at least two to three years to complete the entire project," Venu said.

AIC President Douglas Druick said that his organisation has been working with various museums to encourage modern practices like conservation, planning of exhibitions, etc.
"This is the second year of the agreement. We had the AIC staff travel to India and conduct seminars on the theme of collection management and preventive conservation. We have also hosted officials from Indian museums in Chicago for seminars," Druick said.

"The project has achieved measurable success and we are honoured to be the only American museum to embark on such an extensive professional programme with support from the Indian government," he said.
Among the museums set to be be digitally connected are the National Museum (Delhi), Indian Museum and the Victoria Memorial Hall (both in Kolkata), Salarjung Museum (Hyderabad), Allahabad Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.
Several of ASI's site museums, including those at Sarnath, Nagarjunakonda, Vikramshila, Old Goa, and Fort St George, are also included.
Swami Vivekananda had in 1893 delivered his electrifying address at the the World's Parliament of Religions in the building which is now home to AIC.

AIC had exhibited works by artist Jitish Kallat in 2010, those by Rabindranath Tagore in 2012 and Zarina and Amar Kanwar last year. It is set to showcase Dayanita Singh and Nilima Sheikh this year.