Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya
Established | January 10, 1922 |
---|---|
Location | Fort, Mumbai, India |
Coordinates | 18°55′36″N 72°49′56″E / 18.926667°N 72.832222°E |
Collection size | Approx. 50,000 artefacts[1] |
Director | Sabyasachi Mukherjee[2] |
Website | www |
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, (CSMVS) originally named Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, is a museum in Mumbai (Bombay) which documents the history of India from prehistoric to modern times.[3]
It was founded during
The building is built in the
The museum houses approximately 50,000 exhibits of ancient Indian history as well as objects from foreign lands, categorised primarily into three sections: Art, Archaeology and Natural History. The museum houses
History
In 1904, some leading citizens of Bombay decided to provide a museum to commemorate the visit of the
"The museum building embodies the pomp and height at which the British raj was moving ahead with their ambitious plans, in building the great metropolis Bombay". "In keeping pace with the best style of local architecture, many buildings were built, among which, Bombay High Court building, and later, Gateway of India buildings were the most notable ones".
The foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales on 11 November 1905 and the museum was formally named "Prince of Wales Museum of Western 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
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 10 January 1922, by Lady Lloyd, the wife of
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. In 1998 the Museum was renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya after the warrior king and founder of the Maratha Empire, Shivaji.[7] The museum was renamed after the renaming of the city in 1995, when the colonial name "Bombay" was replaced by the native "Mumbai".[8]
Architecture
The museum building is situated in 3 acres (12,000 m2) area, having a built up area of 12,142.23m sq.[1] It is surrounded by a garden of palm trees and formal flower beds.[9]
The museum building, built of locally quarried grey
In its recent modernisation 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.[1] The museum also houses a library.[1]
Collections
The museum collection comprises approximately 50,000 artefacts.[1] The collection of the museum is categorised 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.[6] The Maritime Heritage Gallery, which displays objects relating to navigation, is the "first of its kind in India".[12] In 2008, the museum installed two new galleries, displaying the "Karl and Meherbai Khandalavala collection" and "the Coins of India".[1]
Art section
The art section displays the collections of Sir
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.
The ivory section has artefacts dating as early as the Gupta era.[9] 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.[9] 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.[13]
Archaeological section
Sculptures and coins transferred from the Poona Museum in
Natural history section
The
New galleries
An exhibition entitled Pravaha highlighting early phase of Sir J. J. School of Art and the Progressive Art Movement was launched on 24 July 2017. The exhibition covered a range of paintings from the 1880s to 1950s through works of Pestonji Bomanji, Rustom Siodia, Sawlaram Haldankar, António Xavier Trindade, S. N. Gorakshakar, Govind Mahadev Solegaonkar, G. H. Nagarkar, J. M. Ahivasi, Raghunath Dhondopant Dhopeshwarkar, Raghuveer Govind Chimulkar, Rasiklal Parikh and Y. K. Shukla, Abalal Rahiman, Keshav Bhavanrao Chudekar, Lakshman Narayan Taskar, Syed Haider Raza, and K. H. Ara.[14][15]
A prints gallery was launched with an exhibition entitled Bombay to Mumbai - Door of the East with its face to the West on 29 January 2015. The gallery was inaugurated by Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum in London, who also gave an illustrated lecture on 'World Cultures' at the central foyer of the museum.
As part of the 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, was opened in April 2010. It illustrates "various techniques of textile manufacturing, regional collections and traditional Indian costumes".[2]
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 Helen Keller Institute.
A new gallery on traditional Indian jewellery will be opening in 2020. At the gallery, there will be an exhibit on Golconda diamonds - replicas of which have been presented to the museum.[16]
Galleries
CSMVS Museum has various galleries. They are related to
- Sculpture gallery
- Pre and Proto History gallery
- Natural History Section
- Indian Miniature Painting gallery
- Krishna gallery
- Himalayan Art gallery
- Decorative Metalware gallery
- House of Laxmi- Coin gallery
- Karl and Meherbai Khandalavala gallery
- Chinese and Japanese Art gallery
- Sir Ratan Tata and Sir Dorab Tata gallery of European Paintings
- Arms and Armour gallery
- Jehangir Nicholson gallery
- Premchand Roychand gallery
- Key gallery
- First Floor Circle gallery
- Second Floor Circle gallery
- European Decorative Art gallery
- Bombay School gallery
- Jahangir Sabawala gallery
- Textile Gallery
- Prints gallery
- Curators gallery and Conservation Centre
Sculpture Gallery
The archaeological collections were originally started by pioneering archaeologists Sir
- Brahma, from Elephanta Caves
- Mahishasuramardini, from Elephanta
- Parel Relief of Shiva (plaster cast) from Parel
- Sculptures from Aihole and Pattadakal
- Dvarapala, from Shamalji, Gujarat
- Garuda, from the Konark Sun Temple
- Yaksha, from Pitalkhora
- Buddha and Devotee from Mirpur Khas
- Ashthamahesha Replica bust
CSMVS is celebrating its centenary
Picture gallery
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Dvarapala Yaksha, Pitalkhora Buddhist caves (2nd century CE)
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Devotee statue from Mirpur Khas in Sindh (present day Pakistan) (5th century CE)
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Buddha statue made of terracotta, Mirpur Khas(5th century CE)
-
Parel Relief of Shiva (plaster cast), 6th century CE
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Parshvanatha, bronze, Eastern India (2nd century CE)
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Terracotta head from Akhnoor (Jammu). Head presented to the museum from the collection of Alma Latifi. (6th century CE)
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Uma-Maheshvara, Aihole (7th century CE)
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Gautama Buddha statue discovered in the Indian state of Odisha(12th century CE)
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Captive Gardabhilla, Kalpasutra, c. 1375 CE
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Shantinathstatue from Varaval in Sindh (present day Pakistan)
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Tirthankara statue, marble, late medieval period, Gujarat
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Akbar's amrour
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Marble statue based onMusee du Louvre.
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Japanese sculpture
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Śvētāmbara JainismTirthapata(20th century CE)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Press Information Bureau: Union Ministry of Culture (5 September 2008). "Union Ministry of Culture give Administrative approval for 124.3 million Rupees for Modernization of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai". Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
- ^ a b Mahorey, Sumedha (13 July 2009). "New-Seum!". Mumbai Mirror. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
- ^ "Prince of Wales Museum". Extract from Frommer's India, 4th Edition. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 August 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
- ISBN 978-81-88204-00-7.
- ^ "Official site". Archived from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ^ a b Maharashtra state gazetteers, Greater Bombay District. "Places: Prince of Wales Museum". Archived from the original on 14 June 2011.
- ^ "Now, you can take museum relics home from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya". www.dnaindia.com. Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
- ^ "Why Did Bombay Become Mumbai?". www.slate.com. The Slate Group. December 2008. Archived from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, Govt. of India. "CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ VASTU SANGRAHALAYA". Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
- Indian Express. 3 December 2013. Archivedfrom the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Architectural Note on the Building of Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Mumbai". Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
- ^ a b c Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (2004). "Mumbai Museums". Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
- ISBN 0-674-46866-X. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
akbar armour mumbai museum.
- ^ "Pravaha". Archived from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ "Exhibition 'Pravaha' a tribute to JJ principal Solomon, Bombay school of art he patronised". The Indian Express. 7 August 2017. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ "GIA India donates replicas of famous diamonds to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja Vastu Sangrahalaya". www.aninews.in. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
- ^ "The jewel on the crescent: The CSMVS at 100, Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji museum at 100 is gloriously alive and talking with the past and the present,Hindu, February 18,2022". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 April 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2022.