Indian museums gear up for future challenges

In what can be termed as a first-of-its-kind move, which will allow India’s museum professionals to equip themselves with best practices and tools in the domain, an international training program has just been launched. The five-month long Leadership Training Program is aimed at training both senior and mid-level museum officials from all across the country.

The project is being executed with support and active involvement of the British Museum experts. An experts’ team is led by Neil MacGregor, the world-renowned institution's director.
The comprehensive program is part of the reform agenda of Union Ministry of Culture in the domain of archeology and conservation.

Its idea is to put a core group of museum professionals in close touch and meaningful interaction with the very best in the world in order to help groom a solid base of professionals, who will then pass on the inputs by others in the field.

The initial training session as part of this international training program for India’s museum professionals took place in the third week of January in New Delhi, involving up to 20 professionals drawn from a dozen or so museums. It's to be followed by a session in March in London and the concluding session in May in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Mumbai’s historic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (previously The Prince of Wales Museum) has launched an ambitious project to restore the precious Panchatantra translations and illustrations. The Bank of America is funding the Rs 5 million restoration project - a fact it highlighted in its recent full-page advertisements in all leading Indian news publications.

Senior curator Vandana Prapanna and the museum’s art conservation, research & training head, Anupam Shah are spearheading the year-long ambitious project. It will be completed in two phases that include the reintegration of illustrations and Persian texts, and then the restoration of documents in collaboration with technical experts to rid them of discolored pigments and physical damages caused with passage of time over the past few centuries.

First retrieved from a major fire in the 17th century during a fight between the British and the Marathas, a London-based collector of Indian miniature paintings acquired them and later donated to CSMVS this historic collection, giving it a new lease of life.