New National Museum in North and South Blocks to display artefacts in chronological and thematic order

Director General of the National Museum BR Mani, front left, and others during the signing ceremony between National Museum and France Museums Development for the upcoming ‘Yuga Yugeen Bharat National Museum’. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

North Block and South Block in the national capital, which are set to house the new National Museum, will have artefacts arranged chronologically and thematically, according to a draft proposal under consideration of the Union Culture Ministry.

North Block, which is likely to be the first one of the buildings where retrofitting will be completed, is expected to house the artefacts in a chronological order while South Block is likely to have theme-based sections, sources told The Hindu.

India signed a Memorandum of Understanding with France on December 19 last year for the development of the new museum, along the lines of the Louvre in Paris. The museum will be developed through adaptive reuse in collaboration with France, which is renowned for its expertise in such projects — exemplified by the Louvre, the Grand Palais, and the Hotel de la Marine. This approach mirrors France’s ‘Grand Projects’ initiative that transformed government buildings into iconic cultural spaces.

The chronological arrangement will have about 50 sections each with 5-6 rooms and thus around 250 galleries in total. The thematic section would have displays based on different subjects such as literature, architects, and artistes, according to the proposal.

Apart from these, there would be galleries with augmented reality, educational centres and children’s corners etc.

Museum has 2,06,000 artefacts

North Block houses the Ministries of Finance and Home Affairs, while South Block houses the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of External Affairs.

Offices in both the buildings are being moved to the Common Central Secretariat (CCS) building on Janpath as part of the Central Vista plan.

The new museum, which has been named ‘Yug Yugeen Bharat’ museum, would be able to house an estimated 25,000-30,000 artefacts and is expected to be the largest such museum in the world when completed.

As of now, the National Museum has 2,06,000 artefacts in total, out of which, 7,000-8,000 are on display.

“We have sought artefacts from all museums across the country for display in the upcoming new museum. While they are most welcome to send things on a permanent basis, we can also display them on a temporary basis and keep rotating them,” B.R. Mani, Director General of the National Museum, told The Hindu.