Component-I (A) – Personal details: The Typology of the Museum-2 Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Shri Supreo Chanda Dept.of Museology, University of Calcutta. Dr Dhriti Ray Dept. of Museology, University of Calcutta. Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. 1 Component-I (B) – Description of module: Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Museology Module Name/Title The Typology of the Museum-2 Module Id IC / MUS / 08 Pre-requisites Knowledge of Museums, types, scope and significance Objectives To understand the diverse nature of Indian museum in terms of its nature, collections and functions. The chapter will focus the existence of various types of museum and its contents. Keywords museum, collections, nature, types E-text (Quadrant-I) 1. Introduction India is the country with diverse natural and cultural heritage unique to the world. The country is the witness of the existence of prehistoric human settlements; the rise and fall of many civilizations and royal powers; emergence and extinction of many flora and fauna, as well as the development of science and technology since the days immemorial. India is the land of great personalities who contributed immensely in the freedom of India, discovery and development of science, technology, art, architecture, literature and culture. The rich socio- cultural heritage of India can be characterized under two categories material and non- material or tangible and intangible heritage. In tangible heritage we see old remnants, archaeological sites, art, crafts, manuscripts and many more. Intangible heritage includes traditions, music, dance, literature, folklores, fables, rites, rituals, festivals etc. In such a country museums play an important role in preserving and exhibiting the heritage for the knowledge of mankind. No one type or category of museum is enough for portraying the heritage and thus more than hundred types of museums are in India now those preserve and exhibit the diversity of heritage. 2. National Museums Government of India has established many museums as National Museums that represent the nation or national collection on the subject it is concerned. Many of such museums are in New Delhi and few are scattered throughout India. Like, National Museum; National Gallery of Modern Art; National Science Centre; National Museum of Natural History; National Telecom Museum; National Library; National Archive; National Craft Museum etc. Here is the brief history of the establishment and collection of the National Museum. 2.1 National Museum, New Delhi The National Museum was formally inaugurated by Shri. C.Rajagopalachari, the Governor – General of India, on the auspicious occasion of 15th August 1949. The Museum presently holds approximately 2,00,000 objects of a diverse nature, both Indian as well as foreign origin, and its holdings cover a time span of more than five thousand years of Indian cultural heritage. All the collections are displayed through different galleries on Harappan Civilisation, Archaeology, Buddhist Art, Indian Miniature Paintings, Evolution of Indian Scripts and Coins, Central Asian Antiquity, Coins, Indian Textiles, Pre-Columbian and Western Art, Wood Carving, Musical Instruments, Tribal Lifestyle of North-East India, Arms 2 and Amours and Temple Chariots. They develop new galleries and also run regular exhibitions on different subjects as per need time to time. Among the important collections the museum has the dancing doll of Mohenjo-Daro, sacred relics of the Buddha (5th-4th century B.C.), miniatures of Mughal, Deccani, Central Indian, Rajasthani, Pahari schools of the period from 1000 A.D. to 1900 A.D. National Museum, New Delhi 3. Museums of the National Importance A few old, unique and important museums are in India, which are administered by the respective Board of Trustees and not directly under the control of the Ministry of Culture. Government of India has declared these museums as museum of National Importance. These are Indian Museum, Kolkata—Oldest museum in India; Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad—largest one man collection, Chattrapati Sivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, Indira Gandhi Rastriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal etc. 3.1. Indian Museum, Kolkata The Indian Museum is the museum of National Importance in Kolkata was founded in 1814. It is the earliest and the largest multipurpose Museum not only in the Indian subcontinent but also in the Asia-Pacific region of the world. At present there are twenty seven galleries under the six sections on Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Geology, Zoology and Botany. The famous Bharhut remains are in the possession of this museum. The museum which was known in the beginning as the “Asiatic Society Museum” subsequently came to be known as the “Imperial Museum” later familiarized as the “Indian Museum”. The museum is more familiar by the name Jadughar or Ajabghar among the visitors. 4. General/Multipurpose Museum In general museum, different types of collections are gathered in the same place. In majority of cases, these museums came into being in the 19th century. Some of them originated from private collections. In big museums, collections are divided into a number of sections. Broad divisions are made in arts and science and under them various subsections. In such cases, specimens of arts, archaeology, numismatics, epigraphy, painting, manuscripts, arms and armours, decorative arts, textiles, natural history, etc. are included within its scope balancing uniform development of each discipline. Under science division galleries are made on Zoology, Botany, Anthropology, Geology etc. 3 There are large numbers of general museums in India like The Indian Museum, Kolkata, which is the first multipurpose museum in this country as well as in the South Asia. Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, showcases Indian Art, Far Eastern art, European Art, Middle Eastern art, children’s section etc. Apart from this, a gallery is devoted to the celebrated Salar Jung family. The Maharaja Chhatrapati Sivaji Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai consists of different sculptures from Indus Valley Civilization, Gandhara and medieval periods, Indian miniature paintings, Tibetan and Nepalese arts, European Paintings and decorative arts etc. Chhatrapati Sivaji Maharaj Vastu Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad Sangrahalaya, Mumbai 5. Art Museum The art museums are those institutions or buildings in which paintings, sculptures and decorative art objects are exhibited. Art Galleries, Portrait galleries, Modern Art museums, Folk lore museums, crafts museums etc. are fall under this category. 5.1. Art Gallery: It is generally halls and cluster off rooms, specially designed for temporary or permanent art exhibitions. For example, Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery in Mysore, exhibits glass paintings, oil paintings, paintings of Raja Ravi Verma, Company paintings etc. The Sri Chitra Art Gallery in Thiruvananthapuram exhibits modern Indian paintings, Indo-European paintings of Raja Ravi Verma, Svetlova and Nichoas Roerich, the Mughal, Rajasthani and Tanjore Paintings, the Chinese, Japanese, Tibet and Bali etc. The Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai exhibits contemporary paintings. The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi exhibits contemporary arts productions and outdoor life-size sculpture exhibitions. The Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal is a multi-cultural art centre set up to create an interaction within the verbal, visual and performing arts. 5.2. Portrait Gallery: There are many portrait gallery in India established to collect and exhibit portraits of persons who had a distinct role in the history of a country. 4 The Archaeological Museum and Portrait Gallery, Goa, has a gallery devoted to portraits on wood and canvas. Visitors can have a glance at the short history of the Governors and Viceroys of Goa. 5.3. Folk Art Museum: It possess collection that amply reflect the vigour and vitality of the rural life along with a vivid picture of social traditions, religious beliefs, practices, motifs and their aesthetic and cultural influences among the rural folk. Folk art comprises of art forms made of clay, wood, bamboo, leather, bark, bone, horn etc. The Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal Museum, Udaipur has an interesting collection of folk arts comprising dresses, dolls, masks, musical instruments and paintings. Bharat Lok Kala Mandal, Udaipur 5.4. Craft Museum: India has good number of Craft museum. The National Craft Museum, New Delhi contains a collection of traditional Indian crafts in textiles, metal, wood and ceramics. The Gurusaday Museum in Kolkata preserves and exhibits the folk arts of rural Bengal including the objects collected from undivided Bengal. There are some specialized craft museums too in India like Kite Museum, Utensil Museum and Textile Museum in Ahmedabad. 6. History Museum This category of museums is set up with a view to preserve and exhibit the relics of the ancient world recovered from the surface or beneath the soil, pertaining to the historical and cultural heritage. 6.1. Archaeological Museum: the prehistoric and proto historic phases of art and culture are exemplified by statuary art, pottery, tools, coins, minor objects and other treasures of the past, which seem to have witnessed evolutionary changes and also landmarks of aesthetic trends in the context of cultural development. In India, the number of archaeological museums excels other types of museums. 6.2. Site Museum: the site museums are a special type of archaeological ‘museums in situ’ that houses loose dismantled