The National Museum Institute (NMI) took a major stride in realizing an independent campus for the 25-year-old educational centre when Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Dr. Mahesh Sharma laid the foundation stone of the institute at a three-acre plot in Noida today.
The National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology will get a five-storeyed complex in its new premises at Sector 62 in 30 months with an estimated expenditure of Rs 90 crore.
It is set to become a one-of-its-kind national resource centre for post-graduate and doctoral studies in art and heritage.
"The institute will be a milestone in the future history of Noida and also for the country," Dr. Sharma said after unveiling the plaque at the function which was attended by National Museum Director-General and NMI Vice Chancellor Dr. Venu Vasudevan, Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh, NMI Registrar Dr. Bipin Thakur and Prof Anupa Pande, the dean of NMI.
Dr. Sharma noted that the eco-friendly institute with hostel facilities would generate more jobs and invigorate heritage upkeep in India.
The 1989-founded NMI currently functions at National Museum premises in Delhi.
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Dr. Vasudevan said today's ceremony meant an end to a stalemate that had wrapped the NMI-Noida project, for which the land was acquired way back in 2001. The new campus, with its green buildings that would efficiently use energy, water and other resources, will be functional in 2017 . It will provide five post-graduate courses on Art history, Conservation and Museology.
"There will also be short-term courses for imparting of certain skills associated with the field," he added.
Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh on his part said a full-fledged NMI campus would benefit the students both in studies and employment at a time when art and conservation were finding a surge in demand and respectability.
The NMI Registrar informed that the new NMI complex would have a spacious conservation lab, conference hall, video-conferencing facility, library, seminar room, storage space and class-rooms, administrative block and car park at the basement. The hostel will have 104 single rooms; while there will be a guest house for visiting faculties as well.
Earlier, the Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism was briefed about upcoming NMI building at Noida by Sonia Mehta, Chief architect of Central Public Works Department which has been entrusted with the construction of the institute complex.