WORLD MUSEUM DAY: Museum of Indore’s rich heritage extinct?

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indore, which is one of the fastest-growing cities in India, is expanding day by day. But, when it comes to its heritage, somewhere or the other, the city has no place where a person could get to know all about its glorious past. On the occasion of World Museum Day, Free Press brings a story on the oldest museum in the city which has now turned into Devlalikar Art Gallery.

Historian Zafar Ansari said that, in 1923, Maharaja Tukoji Rao-III inaugurated the city’s first museum which was named Narratna Mandir. At this museum, the Holkars kept some artifacts and some historical elements for conserving history. Later in 1963, the artifacts kept in the museum were shifted to the Indore Central Museum when it was constructed.

“For the past 100 years, there’s been no place in the city—apart from libraries—where people can see the Holkar rulers’ rich heritage. Although there is a Shikargah in Ralamandal where some of the swords of kings and other items were kept, the Holkars had a very vast and rich heritage which needs to be displayed at a dedicated museum in the city,” he said.

He added that the city’s ancient libraries were on the verge of extinction and many books related to the city’s history have got destroyed. Recently, an old library which had many books was demolished. He said that there was no library in Indore which had a full gazette of Indore. Many such valuable documents also got damaged due to pigeon guano and some were gnawed by rats.