Museum Expo 2023: Video game and a virtual peek inside new address

A video game designed by the culture ministry for the young and a peek into the new address of the National Museum — which now stands at Janpath — at the Central Secretariat buildings are part of a packed schedule of the International Museum Expo 2023 being hosted in New Delhi next week.

On Tuesday, the Union Ministry of Culture announced its plans for a three-day event at Pragati Maidan that will be inaugurated on May 18, which happens to be the 47th International Museum Day. At a press conference, Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy said the expo themed on “Museums, Sustainability and Well-being” will be organised as part of the second phase of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav that marks the 75th year of Independence.

A presentation by the culture ministry pointed out that the 12-level app-based game, titled “Indian Museum Tycoon”, will introduce museums to gamers. The players will get to curate a museum using 3D objects sourced from the ministry’s museums and made available on the platform. Every level will present a new ethical dilemma that a player has to solve to move up positions starting from an intern to becoming a museum director.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the game, which will be available on Android and iOS, on the opening day. Mugdha Sinha, joint secretary, ministry of culture, said that the game has been developed by the ministry itself.

The PM will also unveil a contemporized version of the Dancing Girl, the iconic prehistoric bronze stone sculpture housed in the National Museum, as the mascot of the expo. To woo young children, a graphic novel titled A Day at the Museum will also be launched, apart from a directory of over 1,200 museums.

Minister of State for Culture Meenakshi Lekhi said that a virtual walkthrough of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum, which is coming up at the North and South Blocks of the secretariat, will present a peek into the future address. The new museum will span an area of 1.17 lakh square metres with 950 rooms, according to the culture ministry.

The National Museum at Janpath is incidentally the second address in the institution’s history. The museum was first inaugurated at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 15, 1949. On May 12, 1955, the foundation stone of the current building was laid on Janpath. Since late December, 2017, it was in its third and final phase of expansion, according to its original design. However, with the start of the Central Vista Redevelopment Project in September 2019, it was planned to move the national museum to a new address.

Officials from the culture ministry and the national museum declined to give a date of the shift. At present, the National Museum has around 2.1 lakh exhibits.

The ministry also said on Tuesday that the expo will witness the signing of five Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) between the former and nodal agencies and departments of the respective cities for setting up cultural spaces in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Varanasi and Ahmedabad. This follows an announcement made by PM Modi in January 2020.

Although the ministry did not provide details of the MoUs, Lekhi stressed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was eager to bring a shift in focus towards the Indus-Saraswati Civilisation (or the Indus Valley Civilisation) and encouraged people to take pride in India’s civilisational values of over 5,000 years.

Reddy said that there are 383 museums across India under the culture ministry, and that 145 of them had been opened under the BJP government.

The expo will also include masterclasses and panel discussions of various aspects and forms of museums. Besides, a techno mela promises to extend business-to-business networking opportunities for technical vendors and museums, while over 100 students have signed up for learning conservation practices and exposure to career prospects in the space.