Now, Indian Museum to launch app for visitors

The Indian Museum in Kolkata will launch a mobile application for visitors to tell the story of how ancient artefacts and sculptures connect India to the rest of the world.

Speaking to DH the director of Indian Museum Rajesh Purohit said that the application will contain information in text and audio format of 30 ancient exhibits ranging from the prehistoric era to the 10th century CE which is about 1100 years ago.

Titled as ‘‘bacon low energy blue tooth', the visitors can access the information about the artefacts either by scanning them with the application or by entering the code for the related artefact in the application. The application is expected to be launched in March.

The oldest and the first one among the exhibits is a stone hand axe which is 1.5 million years old. It is followed by the first Neanderthal human fossil found in the Narmada valley.

A human skull from the Harappan civilization is also among the 30 objects.

Information about a part of a stone pillar dating back to the Mauryan era which shows the influence of Greek and Persian culture on Indian art will also be available on the application. “ The pillar was found from the archaeological site of Rampurva, located in the West Champaran district of Bihar,” said Purohit.

Exhibits from the Indian Museum’s collection of Bharhut sculptures dating back to the Second Century BC Madhya Pradesh will also be among the elated artifacts. Stone images of sphinx-like creature and of composite animals with features of bull, lion and human are among the related Bharhut sculptures about which visitors will get information through the mobile application. They show the influence of Greek and Persian artistic traditions.