Unlike private museums, galleries of kings, nobles and the very rich and eccentric, a National Museum stands as a guardian of a Nation’s culture and heritage. It is an establishment that, at the National level, works to instill a sense of pride in the people of a country, and on the International level serves as the identity of the Nation itself. It is also a country’s repository of its intellectual and creative wealth and a symbol of its level of modernity. Politically, it serves as a Kaleidoscope, revealing the complex thought process of the state itself.
Furthermore, and as Kristy. K Phillips, a researcher at the Asia Society in New York, explains in the opening paragraph of her article: A national museum provides its public with a theatre for presenting the ultimate act of the modern era, namely the performances of citizenship and nationhood.
Thus, two years after independence, when India in command of her destiny had stepped onto the world stage as a free nation and sought to ornament her capital city with landmarks that hitherto had never featured in the city’s 5000-year-old past, she was determined that among these planned ornamentations would be a National Museum.
Roots of the Museum, 1911-1933.
However, and while it is generally known that it was the Nehru led administration of the post independence years that had pushed for the establishment of a National Museum in the capital city of Delhi, the plan of opening a museum dates back to 1911, when the British Indian Government, desirous of shifting the capital city of Imperial India from Calcutta to Delhi, had envisioned a museum to grace its new administrative centre.
This new capital of Imperial India was not to be the medieval city of Shajahanabad that we know in present times, as ‘Old Delhi’ or the six other cities that had preceded it, but was to be built from scratch in a new location that was both geographically and strategically advantageous.
It was to be a spacious and regal city of grand monumental style buildings laid out in a planned manner and in perfect harmony with manicured greenery surrounding it. Importantly, it was to be a city that would be free of the haphazard growth that had cropped up in the former capital city of Calcutta, as the city had progressed from being a commercial hub under the East India Company to being the capital city of British India.
A new capital that would be known as ‘New Delhi’, and whose heart would be located on the Raisina Hill.
Construction of New Delhi, 1912-1930.
On the 12th of December in 1911, King George V had proclaimed the founding of this new capital city in the Delhi Durbar, and on the 15th of December of the very same year, he had laid the foundation stone in a spot that was later developed to be the South Block of the present day Rashtrapati Bhawan Estate, while his consort Queen Mary, in what was to be the North Block on the other end.
New Delhi was thus built over an 18-year period from 1912 to 1930. The name ‘New Delhi’ was given in 1927, and the new capital city was inaugurated by the then Viceroy and Governor General of India, Lord Erwin, on the 13th of February in 1931. Lord Irwin, whose name was Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, was the 1st Earl of Halifax and served as the Viceroy of India from 1921 to 1926.
The chief architect hired for this project was Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens. His team had comprised of several architects and city planners, including Sir Herbert Baker, Robert Tor Russel, William Henry Nicholls, Walter Sykes George, Arthur Gordon Shoosmith, C.G. Blomfield, Henry Medd and F.B. Blomfield.
For the construction of the city, the Imperial government at the time had hired the services of the builder Sir Shoba Singh, along with Narain Singh, Baisakha Singh and Dharam Singh Sethi.
Sir Teja Singh Malik was the chief engineer of the project.
The National Museum: One among several buildings in the blueprint.
Among the many grand buildings envisioned to populate the new 10-mile capital city of New Delhi were the Western and Eastern Courts on Janpath (completed in 1920). The Secretariat Building and the Old Parliament House (completed in 1927). The ceremonial boulevards of Rajpat and Janpat (also completed in 1927). The Rashtrapati Bhawan Estate and the Safdurjung airport (completed in 1929). The Teen Murti House (completed in 1930). The Irwin Amphitheatre and Connaught Place (completed in 1933).
Lutyen’s blueprint also included many buildings that never materialised at the time, and one among which was the proposed National Museum – and that was planned to be part of an intellectual and cultural plaza alongside an Oriental Institute, a National Library and an Imperial Record Office.
Inspite of even having land allocated for its construction, the project was stalled by outbreak of World War I and later abandoned.
The Gywere committee, 1944-1946.
Interest in developing a National Museum in Delhi had resurfaced after a gap of ten odd years, when in the November of 1944, the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal and with the Anthropological Society of Bombay had engaged in dialogue with the Imperial Government of India regarding the establishment of a National Museum of Indian Archaeology, Art and Anthropology in New Delhi.
A feasibility study of the project was required, and to this end, the Imperial Government of India had appointed the Central Advisory Board of Education on Museums to conduct the preliminary groundwork for the proposed project.
This 11-man committee, now referred to as the ‘Gywere Committee’ was headed by Sir Maurice Gywere, who served as Chief Justice of India from 1937 to 1943 and also as the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University from 1938 to 1950.
On board was W.H.F. Armstrong, Director of Public Instruction in Punjab. Sohan Lal Bhatia, a decorated Army Officer of the British Indian Army. Khan Bhadur, Panna Lal, Justice W.R. Puranik, Professor S. Radhakrishnan, J.S.C. Sen, W.G.P. Wall, and the noted archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India – and who is generally thought to be the main initiator of the project.
The ‘Gywere Committee’ had presented its report in 1946, a few months before the Independence of India, and in this report highlighted the importance of establishing a museum to preserve local arts and crafts that were rapidly disappearing.
After India’s Independence in 1947, this report, along with other plans that were in the pipeline, was handed over to the new Indian Government headed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Post Independence, 1947-1948.
The plan of opening a National Museum in Delhi had gathered momentum when a collection of rare artifacts had made their way to the Rastrapati Bhawan Estate in 1948.
Acquired from various museums and art houses across the subcontinent and initially displayed at Burlington Hall in London in an event organised by the Royal Academy of Arts in the winter of 1947, this collection had comprised of rare artifacts from the time of the Mauryan empire, sculptures of the Buddha from Mathura and Gandhara that were produced during the reign of the Kushans, stone idols from the Gupta and Chola period, and Gurkani (Mughal) paintings.
While the exhibition in London was essentially organised to mark the transfer of power from Great Britain to India and the newly created country of Pakistan. In India, the collection was publicized as a grand state event and opened for public viewing.
Upon its arrival at the Rashtrapati Bhawan Estate in the August of 1948, the collection was stored in the State Rooms of the Presidential Quarters by the first Governor General of India, C. Rajagopalachari – with the Archaeological Survey of India tasked with staging an exhibition for the Indian public.
Founding of the National Museum Delhi, 1949 -1960.
This exhibition that was held in the winter months of November and December in 1948 had resulted in the official founding of the National Museum in Delhi, the very next year, on the 15th of August in 1949.
In the early days, the museum had operated from within the State Rooms of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, with the erstwhile Imperial Durbar Hall serving as its central exhibition space. Yet this arrangement was a temporary arrangement, as can be gleaned from Nehru’s discourse with S.C. Chakravarty, then the head of the Archaeological Survey of India.
I agree with Dr. Chakravarty that Government House cannot be considered as suitable for the permanent location of a national museum. For this purpose we must erect a new building, specially constructed and large enough for the future growth of the museum. I am afraid we cannot undertake any major construction at the present moment. But it is important that a plot of land in a suitable locality should be reserved for the museum. It appears that the Gwyer Committee has recommended the crossing of Kingsway and Queensway for this purpose. This matter should be considered now and finalised.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
By the 1950s, the Nehru administration, having decided to follow the recommendations of the ‘Gwyer Committee’, had opted for the same spot of land that Luyten had originally reserved for the museum. Though by this time there was already a museum dedicated to Central Asian antiquities here, the plan of building the National Museum had not stalled. This small museum had been acquired by the Government of India along with its collection.
Construction of the National Museum’s present building.
In 1955, Nehru had laid the foundation stone and the first phase of construction was completed by 1960. The work was entrusted to the care of Ganesh Bhikaji Deolalikar, who at the time was the head of the Central Public Works Department.
However, while it is known that it was Deolalikar who constructed the octagonal building of the National Museum in Delhi with its hallways and central courtyard. There is a bit of uncertainty regarding as to whether the architectural design was that of Luyten or Deolalikar.
On the 18th of December in 1960, the museum was formally inaugurated by the then Vice President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
Till 1956, the affairs of the museum was overseen by the Indian Archaeological Society. Between 1957 and 2005, it was designated as a separate institution with its affairs overseen by the Ministry of Education. Since 2006, however, it has been under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture.
The First Director, Grace Morley, 1960 -1966.
The museum’s first Director was Grace Morley, an American art historian, curator and Museologist. Morley had stepped into her role as Director of the National Museum on the 8th of August in 1960 and continued till 1966. Prior to her work at the National Museum in Delhi, Morley had also served as the first director of the San Francisco Museum of Art in the U.S. for over twenty-three years. For her valuable services, she was awarded the Padma Bhusan award in 1982.
Morely was assisted in her duties by C. Sivaramamurti, a scholar of Sanskrit and art. During this time, Smita Baxi had served as head of exhibitions. Priyatosh Banerjee was in charge of the museum’s publications and Vijay Kumar Mathur had filled in as the curator of education and paintings, and was responsible for organizing historical exhibitions.
During her tenure, Morely had not only worked closely with curators and technical assistants but also trained them in handling artifacts, as well as in processing inputs from various government bodies and officials, including that of former director-general I.D. Mathur.
In a publication, Priyatosh Banerjee, who was an assistant superintendent with the Archaeological Survey of India and was later in charge of the Museum’s publications, wrote lavishly of her contributions in making the National Museum an internationally recognized center of art and learning in Asia.
She gave the Indian government an assurance that the Museum would be opened to the public within four months after her joining the Museum. It appeared almost an impossible task. But with her hard work and with the co-operation and enthusiasm of the staff of the Museum, she accomplished it with a wonderful success. The Museum was opened on the 18th of December 1960, with most of the art and archaeological galleries beautifully set up. The exhibition was a model of precision, combining historical considerations and aesthetic taste.
Priyatosh Banerjee
Present, 2006 onwards.
In present times, this museum has garnered top reviews for its dedicated involvement in not only procuring, restoring and documenting valuable finds but in introducing modern generations to the skills and craftsmanship of ancestors who, with elementary tools, created awe-inspiring works of art reflecting their times, beliefs and lives.
As a leading centre of culture and learning, it has at a point in time harboured some 2,10,000 objects of antiquity. Although sculptures and paintings make up the bulk of its large collection of exhibits, there is also a huge cache of rare finds, including a Harappan skeleton from Rakhigarhi, see Farbound.Net story: Who were the Harappans? A Gandharan statue of the Buddha,see Farbound.Net story: The Greek Buddha. A replica of the Junagardh rock edit that sits in the lawn at the front, see Farbound.Net story: What ended the Mauryan empire?. Arms and armour from the Mughal armoury, coinage from the time of the Mauryan empire and a massive 19th-century temple chariot from down south.
In 2014, there was also a spatter of Colombian art exported in from foreign shores, for a varied taste of antiquity. However, it is uncertain if this collection was a temporary loan from another museum or is a permanent part of the museum’s exhibit.
Upon entering the premises, one can also find information boards at the entrance of designated rooms and near displayed objects. The information displayed is provided by the Indian Archaeological Society. The museum also employs knowledgeable curators and museum attendants who are ready to assist should one require their assistance
While the museum does house a library for the use of researchers, academicians and students, this facility appears to be off-limits for visitors, as I found out in 2014, after being barred from entry at the reception. Entry is, possibly, membership-based.
Farbound.Net Greetings Cards.
Actual Dimensions: 1200 x 1203 pixels
Furthermore, and like most museums in the world, this one too provides replicas of fabled objects which can be purchased as souvenirs and collectables. The museum also continues to organise exhibitions and seminars to cultivate in present-day denizens a respect for the spectral presence of long-gone civilizations that linger out of time but not out of place.
Keeping up with the times, the Museum’s latest addition is Virtual Tours.
I F I This is an independent story describing the creation of the National Museum in Delhi. If you’d like to know more about the National Museum, visit the museum’s History Page or the museum’s main website at National Museum Delhi. I
