Kerala is now aspiring to become the museum hub of India. The state plans to promote mini museums throughout the state under its new initiative.
Key Points
- Venu V, the Additional Chief Secretary of Kerala who oversees the departments of Archaeology, Archives, and Museums, said that the old notion that museums are the places where history sleeps should be changed. Such museums should be able to engage visitors, converse with them, especially the youngsters.
- Thus, the state is starting a new initiative that will promote mini museums in the state.
- The new museum initiative is anchored by Keralam Museum, an organization formed to build and modernize museums.
- The new museum movement aims to change the old-fashioned norms about the conservation of cultures and putting together revolutionary concepts that are gaining ground in other parts of the world.
- Other than this, the Bastion Bungalow at Fort Kochi will now operate as the Ernakulam District Heritage Museum. Its galleries will display the interventions of the colonial Dutch, Portuguese, and British powers into the political domain of Kerala’s kingdoms.
- A newly opened District Heritage Museum in Palakkad will focus on the music, arts, and agriculture of the region. The museum is 150 km north of Kochi.
In recent years, Keralam Museum has completed various projects like Gandhi Smriti Museum at Payyanur, Koyikkal Palace Folklore Museum at Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram district, and Vaikom Satyagraha Memorial Gandhi Museum in Kottayam district. Over 20 District Heritage Museums are underway. Kerala is also home to one of India’s biggest art events- the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
