National Museum to open Arms & Armours Gallery at Red Fort

The Arms and Armour section is almost complete and will be open for public in the next 3 to 4 months. The gallery will have exhibits covering a period of 25,000 years of revolution and collections of tribal and other indigenous groups

New Delhi: THE National Museum of India, over a span of two years, has shifted its visitor base to virtual world with public visits down by over 50 per cent since 2020. According to the officials, public revenue generation (tickets) has been down by 90 per cent in the last 17 months.

The National Museum in New Delhi is also battling space constraints with former headquarter of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in the vicinity being converted into Buddha exhibition hall for the former. As per the officials, the National Museum will be opening its new "branch" at the Red Fort with three sections; Arms and Armours, India's Great Struggle (Independence) and Jammu and Kashmir exhibition.

The Arms and Armour gallery by the National Museum will be the largest such museum in the country and would be spread over a space of 50,000 sq. ft.

"The Arms and Armour section is almost complete and will be open for public in the next 3 to 4 months. The gallery will have exhibits covering a period of 25,000 years of revolution and collections of tribal and other indigenous groups. India's Great Struggle gallery will feature untold story from pre-Independence era, whereas the J&K gallery will focus on the cultural aspects," the official told Bizz Buzz.

At present, the National Museum does not have the provision to accommodate its other historical artifacts such as textile and Nizam jewels due to non-availability of adequate space. It is reliant on occasional special exhibitions, conducted week long once in a year, to display for public viewing.

Before the outbreak of Covid-19, the National Museum had a daily visitor count of 1,000 people, whereas now it is less than 200. However, the online presence of the gallery has increased to 2,000 visitors/day. The vicinity is undergoing major transformation and adding to its umbrella new exhibits namely Central Asian Gallery, Kashi Exhibit and Company paintings (19th century) in the last 2 years.

"Some of our videos have hit over 60,000 views on a single video. Our online presence has grown strong and our presence on Facebook and Instagram has grown popular with time. But for in-person experience, we do not have required space to accommodate all the artifacts. Although we are renovating the structure, shifting to the new ASI building and the Red Fort, we still are short of one more building to fully display all the historical artifacts," the National Museum official said.

The officials also stated that although the public participation has reduced, the government spending has increased with higher budget allocation this year. In comparison to 2019 where the budgetary allocation was Rs 52 crore, this year the funding received has been Rs 60 crore.

"Most of our work here will be done by October, whereas the gallery setup at Red Fort will be completed in the next 6 months and we will be ready to welcome more visitors. But because of Covid-19 scare, people, especially school going children are hesitant to visit the museum. By next year March, we are hoping to see more visitors at our galleries," the official added.