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The museum building is surrounded by a
garden of palm trees and formal flower beds. The museum houses
approximately 50,000 exhibits of ancient Indian history as well as
objects from foreign lands, categorized primarily into three sections:
Art, Archaeology and Natural History. The museum houses Indus Valley
Civilization artefacts, and other relics from ancient India from the
time of the Guptas, Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakuta.
History
In 1904, some leading citizens of Bombay decided to provide a museum to
commemorate the visit of the Prince of Wales, the future King George V.
On 22 June 1904, the committee passed a resolution saying:
"The building should have a handsome and noble structure befitting
the site selected, and in keeping with the best style of local
architecture".
The foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales on the 11 November
1905 and the museum was formally named "Prince of Wales Museum of
Western India". On 1 March 1907, the government of the Bombay Presidency
granted the museum committee a piece of land called the "Crescent Site",
where the museum now stands. Following an open design competition, in
1909 the architect George Wittet was commissioned to design the Museum
building. Wittet had already worked on the design of the General Post
Office and in 1911 would design one of Mumbai's most famous landmarks,
the Gateway of India.
The museum was funded by the Royal Visit (1905) Memorial Funds.
Additionally, the Government and the Municipality granted Rs. 300,000
and Rs. 250,000 respectively. Sir Currimbhoy Ibrahim (first Baronet)
donated another Rs. 300,000 and Sir Cowasji Jehangir, gave Rs. 50,000.
The Museum was established under Bombay Act No. III of 1909. The museum
is now maintained by annual grants from the Government and the Bombay
Municipal Corporation. The latter pays for these grants from the
interest accruing on the funds at the disposal of the Trust of the
Museum.
The museum building was completed in 1915, but was used as a Children's
Welfare Centre and a Military Hospital during the First World War,
before being handed over to the committee in 1920. The Prince of Wales
Museum was inaugurated on January 10, 1922, by Lady Lloyd, the wife of
George Lloyd, Governor of Bombay.
The museum building is a Grade I Heritage Building of the city and was
awarded first prize (Urban Heritage Award) by the Bombay Chapter of the
Indian Heritage Society for heritage building maintenance in 1990. The
Museum was renamed Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya" in 1995 after
Shivaji - the founder of the Maratha empire, following the renaming of
the city, when the colonial name "Bombay" was replaced by the native
"Mumbai".
Architecture
The museum building is situated in 3 acres (12,000 m2) area, having a
built up area of 12,142.23 sq.m. The museum building is surrounded by a
garden of palm trees and formal flower beds.
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The
museum building, built of basalt and kurla stone, is a three-storied
rectangular structure, capped by a dome set upon a base, which adds
an additional storey in the centre of the building. Built in the
Western Indian and Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, the
building accommodates a central entrance porch, above which rises a
dome, "tiled in white and blue flecks, supported on a lotus - petal
base". A cluster of pinnacles, topped with miniature domes surround
the central dome. The building incorporates features like Islamic
dome with a finial along with protruding balconies and inlaid
floors, inspired by Mughal palace architecture.
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The
architect, George Wittet, modeled the dome on that of Golconda Fort and
the inner vaulting arches on those at the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur. The
interior of the museum combines the columns, railings and balcony of an
18th-century Wada (a Maratha mansion) with Jain style interior columns,
which form the main body of the central pavilion below the Maratha
balcony.
In its recent modernization programme (2008), the Museum created 30,000
sq ft (2,800 m2) space for installation of five new galleries, a
conservation studio, a visiting exhibition gallery and a seminar room,
in the East Wing of the Museum. The Museum also houses a library.
Collections
The museum collection comprises approximately 50,000 artifacts. The
collection of the museum is categorized primarily into three sections:
art, archaeology and natural history. The museum also houses a forestry
section, which has specimens of timbers grown in the Bombay Presidency
(British India), and one exhibiting a small local geological collection
of rocks, minerals and fossils. The Maritime Heritage Gallery, which
displays objects relating to navigation, is the "first of its kind in
India". In 2008, the Museum installed two new galleries, displaying the
"Karl and Meherbai Khandalavala collection" and "the Coins of India".
Art Section
The art section displays the collections of Sir Purushottam Mavji,
acquired in 1915, and the art collections of Sir Ratan Tata and Sir
Dorab Tata, donated in 1921 and 1933 respectively.
Dancing Krishna, from the Nepal-Tibet section. Nepal, 18th Century AD.
The headphone symbol at the foot of the image indicates that the
artifact is part of the audio tour. The museum provides an audio tour in
six languages to visitors.
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The
museum's miniature collection encompasses representations of the
main schools of Indian painting namely, Mughal, Rajasthani, Pahari
and Deccani. It features palm leaf manuscripts dating to the
11th-12th centuries to the early 19th century pahari paintings, as
well as paintings from the Sultanate period. Notable manuscripts
housed in the museum include the Anwar-Suhayli painted in Mughal
emperor Akbar’s studio and a 17th Century manuscript of the Hindu
epic Ramayana from Mewar.
The ivory section has artefacts dating as early as the Gupta era.
The museum also has decorative artefacts such as textiles, ivories,
Mughal jades, silver, gold and artistic metal ware. It also has a
collection of European paintings, Chinese and Japanese porcelain,
ivory and jade artefacts. The museum also has sections dedicated to
arms and armour and another to Nepali and Tibetan art. The arms and
armour section contains a finely decorated armour of Akbar dating to
1581 CE, consisting of a steel breastplate and a shield, the former
inscribed with religious verses. |
Archaeological Section
Sculptures and coins transferred from the Poona Museum in Pune and the
collections of the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society resulted
in the development of an archaeological section, with precious
sculptures and epigrams. The Indus Valley Culture Gallery houses fishing
hooks, weapons, ornaments and weights and measures from the Indus Valley
Civilization (2600 - 1900 BCE). Artefacts from the excavation of the
Buddhist stupa of Mirpurkhas, were housed in the Museum in 1919. The
sculpture collection holds Gupta (280 to 550 CE) terracotta figures from
Mirpurkhas in Sind of the early 5th century, artefacts dating to the
Chalukyan era (6th - 12th century, Badami Chalukyas and Western
Chalukyas), and sculptures of the Rashtrakuta period (753 - 982 CE) from
Elephanta, near Mumbai.
Natural History Section
The Bombay Natural History Society aided the Museum Trust in creating
the natural history section. The museum's natural history section makes
use of habitat group cases and dioramas, along with diagrams and charts,
to illustrate Indian wildlife, including flamingoes, Great Hornbill,
Indian bison, and the tiger.
New Galleries
As part of renovation project initiated in October 2008, the "Krishna
Gallery" holding artworks related to the Hindu god Krishna, a Hindu
deity of the preserver-god Vishnu, was opened in March 2009. A textile
gallery, the first gallery in the city, is going to be opened in April
2010. It will illustrate "various techniques of textile manufacturing,
regional collections and traditional Indian costumes".
Matrika Design Collaborative is currently designing the museum's Indian
Miniature Painting Gallery. The content developed for the gallery will
be converted into Braille text and tactile labels for the blind with
help from designers, fabricators and consultants from the Hellen Keller
Institute.
Sources: Wikipedia |
