Virtual plan for new national museum to be unveiled by PM Modi on May 18

A virtual plan for the new national museum, which is to come up in the North and South Block, will be unveiled by prime minister Modi on May 18. The prime minister will unveil the plans of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum during the inauguration of the International Museum Expo, curated by the ministry of culture, which will have the participation of over 1200 museums.

Spread across an area of 1.17 lakh square metres, the new national museum will have exhibits from the current National Museum, and will have 950 rooms across four floors – a basement, a ground floor and two floors above that. During the expo, a virtual walkthrough of the museum’s plan will be accessible to visitors, the ministry said.

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Speaking to DH, ministry of state for culture Meenakshi Lekhi said that all the exhibits of the existing National Museum will be shifted to the new museums. “This National Museum building would be part of the ‘Kartavaya Path’,” Lekhi said.

The existing National Museum was inaugurated by the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

“The museum will depict the story of India’s rich civilizational culture of over 5000 years,” the ministry said.

The expo, an ambitious programme of the ministry, will have as exhibits objects from 75 years of freedom, 500 book covers of books on museums, and a digital audio-visual series. Ministry officials said that during the three-day event, a census of museums, a pictorial bibliography of museum books, a game developed by the ministry, a graphic novel, and a pocket map of Kartavya Path will be released.

In addition to that, an exhibit of museum logistics, such as light and sound, gaming partners, vendors etc will be available. Five MoUs for regional cultural centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Varanasi and Ahmedabad, that the PM announced in 2020, will also be signed.

Union minister G Kishen Reddy said that since 2014, 145 of the existing 383 museums have been commissioned by the Modi government. “The International Museum Expo 2023 is the largest of its kind, inviting not only Indian professionals but also experts from around the world to participate in workshops and master classes," Reddy said.