A walk through 5 new museums of contemporary Indian history at Red Fort

It’s a bold move to set up a series of museums focusing on contemporary political history in the unused army barracks of the Red Fort, but they seem enormously appealing to the many local tourists walking through the uncovered avenues (foreign tourists don’t seem to have discovered them as yet). And, they also add a new way of looking at the history of one of the most important heritage sites of Delhi.

More than any other monument in Delhi, the 17th-century fort built by Shah Jahan carries echoes of the city’s rich history — from visiting dignitaries arriving through Lahori Gate to seek favours from one of the world’s richest men; to the raid of Nadir Shah a century later when he carried off the Peacock Throne and the Kohinoor diamond; to the image of Bahadur Shah Zafar II being held prisoner in his own palace till he was deported to Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1858; to the Red Fort Trials of Indian National Army’s officers in 1945.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has created five new museums around this modern history, starting with India’s First War of Independence in 1857. Four of these — the museum on the First War of Independence and India’s contribution to the World Wars; the Yaad-e-Jallian Museum; the Subhash Chandra Bose and Indian National Army Museum; and Drishyakala (a public-private partnership with DAG that focuses on Indian art) — were launched on January 23. The fifth, Azaadi Ke Diwane, which looks at the sacrifices of India’s freedom fighters, opened on March 4. 

Drishyakala museum | Photo: Dalip Kumar

The four ASI-run museums are multi-sensory, state-of-the-art educational spaces with videos, letters and newspaper reports. The one on India’s First War of Independence has quotes from articles and news reports from England, Flanders and France where Indian regiments fought during the two World Wars. The Jallianwala Bagh Museum looks at what was happening in India at that time: from the Rowlatt Acts of 1919, which allowed indefinite detention and incarceration without trial of Indians who protested against the British during World War I, to the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The third museum focuses on Subhash Chandra Bose and the role of the Indian National Army. It includes the Red Fort trials and contains tangible mementoes of Bose, including his uniform, knife and chair. Azaadi Ke Diwane focuses on the stories of Indian revolutionaries, and even includes a replica of the infamous Cellular Jail, also known as Kala Pani, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Subhash Chandra Bose museum | Photo: Dalip Kumar

Drishyakala, meanwhile, tries to map the complex trajectory of artists, printers and photographers, and their contribution to the nationalist movement through four exhibitions that have over 450 artworks spread through the 27,000 sq ft barrack. These include archival material and paintings by the Navratnas, or the nine national artists: Raja Ravi Varma, Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Sher-Gil, Nicholas Roerich, Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Gaganendranath Tagore, Sailoz Mookherjea and Jamini Roy.

Azaadi Ke Diwane museum | Photo: Dalip Kumar

There is also a floor devoted to portraiture and prints during the first half of the 20th century and their contribution to the rise of nationalist bazaar art and new nationalist icons such as Shivaji. But the pièce de résistance is the exhibition, Oriental Scenery: Aquatints of India by Thomas Daniell and William Daniell curated by art historian Giles Tillotson. The exhibition traces the journey of Thomas Daniell and his nephew, William, both landscape artists, in India from 1785 to 1793.

“Curating an exhibition of this size and scale and that too at a World Heritage Site was awe-inspiring,” says Ashish Anand, MD and CEO, DAG. “But, in collaboration with the ASI, we have effectively set up a modern, professional, aesthetic museum experience that is also in sync with the historicity of the Red Fort.” While this exhibition is on till July 31, 2019, work has already started on the next, details of which will be announced shortly. “Suffice it to say, it will be equally historical and will have as much, if not more, resonance with the public as the one on display now,” says Anand.

Tickets to these museums are priced at Rs 80 for Indian visitors and Rs 870 for foreign tourists on a weekday. But ASI has everything to gain with the usage of these spaces. Since 2013, ASI surveys have shown that the number of foreign visitors to Delhi’s historical monuments sites has been declining. But the sight of young Indians clicking selfies with pages of the Indian constitution painted by Nandalal Bose engenders as much a sense of national pride as the Indian flag waving from the ramparts of the Red Fort.