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Generalia
A treasure house celebrates
By Akila Dinakar
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The International Seminar on Conservation of Stone Objects with Special Reference to Limestone Objects from December 18 to 21 is being organised for the first time ever in the museum's history.
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IT WAS founded in 1851 AD and zealously guarded for several decades by the British with up-to-date conservation technology imported from the United Kingdom, and passed on into the hands of the Indian rulers later. The Government Museum, Chennai is 150 years old.
Birthdays like this one must have a fitting celebration and the Government Museum, along with the Indian Association for the Study of Conservation of Cultural Property, New Delhi and the Nehru Trust for Indian Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London at New Delhi plan to say happy birthday with a seminar and exhibition.
Says Dr. R. Kannan, who as Commissioner of Archaeology and Museums, Government Museum, has a professed interest in preservation of sculptures and artefacts: ``We sent a proposal to the Government that the 150th year could be celebrated by organising an international seminar and it was approved.''
Hence the International Seminar on Conservation of Stone Objects with Special Reference to Limestone Objects from December 18 to 21 is being organised for the first time ever in the museum's history.
From humble beginnings with a few hundreds of geological specimens in the Fort St. George College, in College Road and then to the Pantheon buildings in the Cutcherry it later became the Central Museum of the Madras Presidency, the collection increasing with gifts from the British, zamindars and individuals. Many artefacts go back several centuries.
Dr. D.A. Swallow, Executive Trustee, Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, New Delhi says the Trust was set up over a decade ago to support Indian heritage, art and culture. Both the U.K. and India had a great complementary role to play to preserve rare artefacts of both countries, that went a long way in speaking the history and tradition of a nation, she said.
The seminar participants numbering around 100 will include conservators, conservation scientists, chemists, physicists, archaeologists, archaeological engineers, art historians, lawyers, administrators, students and professors from India and the UK.
Papers on conservation of stone objects, monuments, various methods of conservation and restoration, technical sessions in geology of stone objects, disaster management of monuments, biodeterioration, and legal matters pertaining to antiquities are among the 30 papers that will be presented.
Mr. S.P. Singh, Chief Restorer and Head of Department of Conservation, Department of Culture, National Museum says an exhibition on conservation of stone objects, particularly with reference to limestone, will be arranged in the Contemporary Art Gallery of the Museum.
The exhibition is a collaborative effort by the Chemical and the Conservation Branches of the Archaeological Survey of India, Geological Survey of India, National Museum, New Delhi, National Research Laboratory for Conservation, Lucknow, the State Department of Archaeology, Jodhpur, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
The four days will be, as Dr. Kannan puts it, ``hard times with much fisticuffs on which method is better and which is best''. So art lovers, conservationists and culture buffs, prepare for the big league.
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