Museums open to good footfalls

Have a blast from the past at these popular galleries that have reopened with Covid-19 safety measures in place

The city is slowly coming back to life. Restaurants are buzzing, live gigs have resumed and even museums have reopened their doors for the nerds.

Let’s tell you the preparation three popular museums have done to welcome you back to the hallowed halls of history.

Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Kasturba Road

Known for its scientific exhibits and engineering marvels, the museum reopened on July 19 and it has been getting a brisk footfall since.

Sadhana Attavar, director of the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, tells Metrolife, “In the pre-pandemic days, we used to get around 3,000 visitors a day on weekends but that number had slumped down to 2,000 after the lockdown last year. Now, around 500 visitors are coming in daily.”

The museum is popular among all age groups but it seems to be drawing more children during the pandemic. The ratio of children to adults was 10:1 when they reopened the museum in the earlier months.

“Once schools reopen, more students and teachers would visit our museum,” she is hoping.

The museum has put strict Covid-appropriate measures in place. Attavar informs, “We have installed a contactless washing station for people to wash their hands at the museum entrance and we have also kept a contactless sanitising machine.”

Additionally, visitors are expected to stand in a queue, two metres apart, to purchase the tickets and wear disposable gloves as long as they are inside the museum.

The museum is simultaneously holding interactive lectures, seminars, quizzes and other workshops for children and science enthusiasts virtually.

There’s a looming fear that the third wave can force them to down their shutters again. “I hope such a situation doesn’t arise,” Attavar says.

The museum is open to the public from 9.30 am to 6 pm every day. Visitors can buy the tickets at the venue or book them on the museum’s website.

Janapada Loka Bangalore–Mysore Highway

It’s a popular stopover for people interested in the folk history of Karnataka. You can browse through 5,000 folk artefacts related to the state and buy from a collection of 98 books and CDs on your way out.

The museum reopened on July 5 after a three-month shutdown and has managed to make only 20 per cent of their pre-COVID.

“Around 100 to 120 people are coming to visit the museum on weekdays. The demand is slightly better on Sundays when 200-300 people turn up at the art complex,” shares Dr Ravi UM, museum curator of Janapada Loka.

Currently, the crowd comprises tourists and families from Bengaluru, Ramanagara and Mysuru.“Children may start coming once schools and colleges reopen,” he hopes.

Once people start visiting in large numbers, the museum plans to put up the new art collection.

“They are kept in the storehouse meanwhile,” he informs.

In terms of safety measures, the open-air museum has installed temperature monitors and sanitisation devices.

The museum is open to visitors from 9 am to 5 pm on all days except Tuesdays. You can buy the ticket at the venue.

Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Seshadripuram

It’s an art complex, featuring a network of 13 museums and galleries that display artworks of all kinds — from folk to traditional and contemporary.

“Around 1,000-1,500 people used to visit our museums on weekends before the pandemic hit. People have started coming in since the last week but the numbers are quite less,” shares Prof KS Appajaiah, general secretary of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath.

CKP, as the complex is called in short, is also a recurring venue for art and handicrafts exhibitions and the successive lockdowns have affected the earnings of the artisans associated with these events, he says.

Chittara, an exhibition of artworks sourced from different parts of the country, is currently on at the venue. However, people may be scared to visit the exhibits because of the fear of the third wave, he feels even though the organisers are taking all mandatory Covid-19 safety precautions.

The art complex is open from 10 am to 7 pm from Monday to Saturday. It can also be opened on Sundays on demand.