Latest news with #InternationalMuseumsDay
Hans India
19-05-2025
- Hans India
Kondapalli fort to be developed as mega tourist centre
Vijayawada: NTR district Collector G Lakshmisha on Sunday said museums play a very significant role in preservation of culture and historical treasures. Along with the officials of the department of archaeology, revenue, tourism, municipal administration and members of the adventure tours and travels association, he visited Kondapalli fort to mark the International Museum Day. The department of archaeology officials explained the importance of the Kondapalli museum located in the historical fort. Briefing the media at Kondapalli Fort, the Collector said this year International Museums Day is observed with the theme 'The Future of Museums in the Rapidly Changing Communities'. He urged the youth and students to visit the Kondapalli museum in Kondapalli and Bapu museum in Vijayawada to get aware of our past history and lives of our ancestors. He said the museums depict the historical past and preserve the historical legacy. He said the museums help us to know and understand where we came from and what direction we are heading in future. He said the historical Kondapalli fort and museum contains rare and valuable inscriptions and artifacts and traditional Kondapalli toys. He said efforts are underway to develop Kondapalli fort as a mega tourist centre and urged the people to get aware of the significance of the museums. Vijayawada RDO Kavuri Chaitanyam, District Tourism Officer A Silpa, District Forest Officer Satish, Kondapalli municipal commissioner Ramya Keerthana, AP Tourism Authority consultant Sahiti and representatives of the AP tours and travels association participated in the programme.
The Hindu
18-05-2025
- The Hindu
Guided tour of museums conducted to mark International Museum Day
The International Museum Day was marked by an engaging initiative titled 'Museum on Wheels', in which nearly 130 participants were taken on a special heritage ride across four prominent museums and galleries in Mysuru on Sunday. Conducted by the Department of Archaeology, Museums, and Heritage, it was inaugurated by A. Devaraju, Commissioner of the department, who underlined the importance of museums in showcasing art and cultural heritage and making people aware of their past. He said it was important to visit museums as the exhibits and artifacts help enrich one's knowledge of the culture and traditions of the region. Nearly 130 people from Mysuru, Mandya, and Hassan had registered for the heritage tour, which entailed visits to the Wellington Museum, the Payana, the Regional Museum of Natural History, and the Mysuru Rail Museum. The event was entirely free and open to the public, with museum entry waived for the day for the participants. Mr. Devaraju said, 'International Museums Day is being celebrated across the world at the behest of the International Council of Museums, and the theme for 2025 is 'The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities.' In this connection, the department also plans to conduct a debate contest or essay writing contest for school and college students to get them involved and help them understand the importance of museums and their evolving roles. Mr. Devaraju also urged the parents and teachers to take their children to museums to help stimulate their interest in them on issues related to art, culture, history, and tradition at an early age. The heritage tour included a visit to Wellington Lodge, which houses the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalay (IGRMS) and showcases the evolution of culture from prehistoric times. The recently inaugurated Art Gallery, which showcases both traditional and modern paintings, is the highlight of the new attraction. The visit to the Regional Museum of Natural History provided a glimpse of the flora and fauna of the region and the unique geographical features of the southern region of the country, including the Western Ghats. The Payana museum on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway gave an insight into the automobile heritage with its rich collection of four wheelers of a bygone era. At the Mysuru Rail Museum, which was established in 1979, the visitors explored the century-old steam locomotives, royal saloons belonging to the Maharani, a rail bus, an inspection car of the steam era, among others.
Hindustan Times
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Art from God's own country
Kerala is evoked by the catchy line, God's own country. Its waters are stirred by the ripples of crescent-moon like boats. Its emerald-green trees host an astonishing variety of birds flitting like ethereal spirits in the foliage. These scenes are best captured by a sensitive artist whose life and soul is intertwined with nature. A painting of happy birds on a robust jackfruit tree mesmerised the eye at the ongoing exhibition, Art through Print and Paint --- An exploration of how artists engage with materials and how textures, layers, and processes shape meaning. The exhibition is curated by the AIM Gallery and can be viewed at the Government Museum and Art Gallery till May 21, 2025. To commemorate 'International Museums Day (May 18)', the AIM Gallery exhibition also features signed prints of works by artists of such repute as MF Husain and Manu Parekh. Artist Roy K John resides in the pastoral village of Cherumkuzhy in Kerala's Western Ghats, a world-renowned site that showcases incredible India's biodiversity richness. John's village has the nearby reservoirs of Peechi and Chimmini that support a wealth of faunal life due to their perennial waters. They are somewhat similar to the check-dams that breathe life 365 x 24 into the Shivalik foothills that straddle the tricity's horizon. John lives in a veritable cradle of nature. He steals out of his home with his sketch book to spend hours in the forests and by the side of the reservoirs where he observes nature's infinite plays and variations to seek original ideas for his artworks. John then returns to his studio to translate his sketches procured from Aladdin's cave of emerald riches. He fills out his ideas on canvas with a deft use of brush and a striking employment of colour. Kerala life breathes in a stillness far away in a Chandigarh exhibition hall. 'I have done a series of artworks that dwell on birds and the jackfruit tree. Not only am I capturing the green symbolism of Kerala through such artworks but I convey my concern over the threats to nature. We must realise that nature is preserved through sacrifices and making tireless efforts,' John told this writer. Soil nourished by soldiers' toil As a patriotic poet may put it, flowers are able to bloom in desolate battlefields of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) only because the blood and toil of our soldiers nourishes the soil. For those soldiering in the barren heights of Kargil-Ladakh sectors where not a tree is to be seen in the alpine screes, it is small flowering shrubs that emerge from cracks in the rocks to form miniature gardens. Flowers are the aesthetics that temper the blood and gore of Infantry life, the proverbial petals that block the outlet of rifle barrels. These flowers of 17,000 ft are symbols of 'life and resilience in the barren Kargil mountains', as an Infantry Major expressed it. In the forested reaches of J&K, where coniferous ridges, bubbling brooks and alpine flowers adorn the meadows, flowers are a brief and beautiful rest for soldiers undertaking the feet-blistering grind of forward-domination patrols to guard against infiltrators and psychopath killer terrorists holed up in caves. vjswild2@
The Hindu
17-05-2025
- The Hindu
Mysuru to celebrate International Museum Day with immersive heritage tour
The Department of Archaeology, Museums, and Heritage will celebrate International Museum Day on Sunday and conduct a guided heritage tour through some of the finest museums in the city to mark the occasion. The tour is restricted to the first 100 people who have already registered for the event online and will be free of cost. The tour will commence from the Southern Regional Centre of the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) on the Irwin Road and also include the new gallery, showcasing a collection of paintings. The second museum to be covered is the Regional Museum of Natural History in Siddarthanagar from where the participants will be taken to Payana, which is the new showstopper in the city's museum circuit. Located on the outskirts of Mysuru on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway, this has an impressive collection of automobiles, including vintage cars. The last stop will be the Mysuru Rail Museum, which has a collection of steam locomotives, mechanical contraptions used in a bygone era by the railways. The tour will commence at 8 a.m. and conclude late in the afternoon and includes lunch for the participants. The IGRMS, which was established in 2001, is located in Wellington Lodge, which is a heritage structure and was built around 1799 CE. The exhibits here showcase the evolution of material culture and indigenous and traditional lifestyles, local knowledge systems, etc., in different parts of India. The Regional Museum of Natural History was inaugurated in May 1995 and is adjacent to Karanji Natural Park and showcases the flora and fauna of southern parts of India. Incidentally, this was the first regional centre of the National Museum of Natural History at New Delhi. Payana, which is in the private domain, was inaugurated in 2024 and has since become a must-visit among tourists visiting Mysuru and showcases the automotive heritage, taking the visitor on a nostalgic journey back in time. The Mysuru Rail Museum is an outdoor collection of rail exhibits that range from steam locomotives that chugged along the length and the breadth of the country till the 1970s and 80s before they were supplanted by diesel and electric locomotives. It also has the Maharani's Saloon, which was the luxury saloon used by the royals of Mysuru. Among the other outdoor exhibits are inspection cars, a toy train, an Austin rail motor car, while the evolution of the signalling system has been depicted in a separate gallery The choice of the museums is also significant as they cover a range of themes from human evolution to natural history, art and culture to transportation and innovations. International Museums Day is celebrated every year on May 18th by the International Council of Museums. The objective, as declared by ICOM, is to raise public awareness on how 'museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures, and development of mutual understanding, cooperation, and peace among peoples.'
