Mumbai’s old and antiquated museum gets a new coat

Tag : Operating Coat


Mumbai, June 18 A tie-up with Londons Victoria & Albert Museum, a conservationgallery and a multimedia show: the Chhatrapati Shivaji VastuSanghralaya gets high profile
Changing the fuddy-duddy image of the architecturally splendidMumbai museum has been an ongoing task that the director of theChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya (CSMVS, but stillknown as the Prince of Wales Museum), has undertaken since 2002.
However, project Museum Modernisation now stands at a crucial pointwith several ventures on hand, government and private grants comingthrough and an enthusiastic staff joining forces with experts.
Using multimedia to communicate with younger patrons about theircultural heritage is very important, which is why the museum hastaken up a high-tech multi-media show, Bombay to Mumbai, 500 yearsin the history of Mumbai, says Sabyasachi Mukherjee, the Museumsdirector.
Another reason to celebrate is a big tie-up with the Victoria &Albert Museum, Londons royal museum, that will bring a show ofetchings, watercolours and prints belonging to the 18th and 19thcentury colonial India. This is the first time the V&A will bringa show to India. With assistance from the Ministry of Culture, thisdream has become a reality, says Mukherjee.
The museum is also opening a new gallery dedicated to Krishnaminiatures and we plan to display them in a dynamic manner, saysVandana Prapanna, curator of miniatures and numismatics. Currently,the display is rather flat and more appealing to experts than thelayman. We will enhance the miniature sections, with audio-visualson miniatures, live demos, and display cases that show objectsrelated to that period, adds Prapanna.
The conservation lab currently has two paintings from the RajBhavan and a portrait of David Sassoon on their operating table.Ultra-violet fluorescent light, X-rays and micro chemical analysishelp us restore these paintings thoroughly, says Anupam Sah, chiefconservator of the Museum Conservation Institute. Following thecredo of do as much as necessary and as little as possible, Sah andhis team take around 42 days to restore a work, gently scraping thewax and resin from behind the canvas; an old restoration methodthat actually did more harm than good, and removing theover-layered paint and dust.
The exterior of the museum itself has been restored under theguidance of conservationist Abha Narain Lambah. Weve removed thehard cement pointing that was laid in the 60s and 70s creatingleakages. Weve also cleaned up the dome and water-proofed theterrace, says Narain Lambah. The Museum will now be one of thepremium institutes of art and restoration.
An upcoming museum shop designed by architect Rahul Mehrotra and arainwater-harvesting project outsourced to Ninav Saraiya andAssociates add the final touches to the new and improved edifice.