Peep into the past at Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum

If you thought that the Mughal Gardens were the only attraction at the sprawling Rashtrapati Bhavan estate, here’s another reason to visit the President’s House. 

On the occasion of President Pranab Mukherjee completing two years in office, Rashtrapati Bhavan has thrown open a new museum which chronicles the history of India since 1911, as well as the coming into being of India’s highest office.

Pulling out invaluable artefacts from the dungeons of the 340-room presidential palace -- furniture designed by Edwin Lutyen, sketches by architect Herbert Baker, Company paintings, and books and audio records of historic events – the museum beautifully recreates the birth of Independent India as well as the transition of the British Viceroy’s House to the official mansion of the President of India.

This state-of-the-art museum is the feat of curator Saroj Ghosh who already has the Parliament Museum to his credit. The Rashtrapati Bhavan staff, Archaeological Survey of India and Indian National Trust for Art, Culture and Heritage collaborated to bring this vision to reality.

Saroj Ghosh describes it as a story-telling museum, “Museums, worldwide, are today classified in two categories: The exhibit-based and event-based. This is an exhibit-based museum where various relics have been put together to narrate the journey of the President’s House.”

“The latest technological innovations have been brought to this museum, including digital surfaces and interactive media. The second phase of the museum, which should be ready by 2015, will further have holographic projections and animatronics.”

An interesting detail about the museum is that it is located where royal horses, carriageways and the quarters of horses’ attendants were situated earlier. In fact, the small alcoves have been transfor-med into singular exhibits starting with a majestic double-deck black and golden hunting carriage used by the British previously.

The museum then goes on to showcase simulated scenes of historic events like the Delhi Durbar of 1911, the Gandhi-Irwin pact of 1931, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s oath taking as the first Prime Minister of India and the swearing-in of Dr Rajendra Prasad as the Republic of India’s first President. Records left behind by the British, audio-videos available from that time and CPWD’s picture archives have been extensively used for this.

Then there are fibreglass statues of each President the country has had with an interactive surface that details the profile and times of each.

Another fascinating repository has some truly unique gifts given by heads of various countries to the Presidents of India. These include a marble table from Afghanistan that changes colour on touch, a ship made only of cloves from Indonesia, a ‘tribal chess board’ from Nigeria, a gold necklace from United Arab Emirates etc.

Another set of artefacts to look out for are Edwin Lutyens’ chairs which were inspired by his round-framed spectacles. These were, in fact, being used by guards of the Rashtrapati Bhavan before
being identified as heritage objects, the curator informed.

Along with the museum, the post office of the presidential estate as well as its bank branch, from which even former President Pratibha Patil draws her pension, have been reopened.

“The museum would be opened for the public from August 1 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and for the first three months, entry will be free. The interested can book tickets online. However, arrangements are also being made to obtain tickets by just walking in,” secretary to the President Omita Paul said.