Philanthropy at the museum

King Sala Fighting Lion from the temple of Tripurantaka, Dated 1070 CE, Balligame, Karnataka

The last time we were at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) was shortly before the pandemic. The museum had opened its coin and jewellery gallery but by late March, it had to shut owing to the first wave of COVID-19. It briefly reopened in February-March 2020, only to be closed again because of the second wave. While the idea of being in public spaces still overwhelms many of us, the good news is the opens its doors to the public today. With the re-opening, the museum is offering a unique proposition to the public to adopt galleries and artefacts and help in preserving India's cultural heritage.

In rewind mode

The early 19th century was the time of intellectual institutions in India, with British interest to explore Indian history. The concept of the museum was also introduced in a formal way. By the mid-20th century, Indian connoisseurs, kings, British officials, and art lovers were collecting Western, Indian, and oriental art. With donations from some of these collectors and via purchases, CSMVS's (formerly Prince of Wales Museum) repository of over 70,000 objects was built over time.

Shiva, basalt, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra Mid 6th century CE

"When we were established in 1904, and eventually opened to the public in 1922, most of our collection and the funding for the building came from the citizens of Mumbai. We have always had a tradition where the museum is supported by the people, and it is for the people," says Joyoti Roy, head of strategy and marketing, CSMVS. "Therefore to realise this value, our director general, Mr Sabyasachi Mukherjee felt that we could reach out to people to say that this heritage belongs to you and we are caretakers of this, but at this juncture when our revenues are zero due to no ticket sales since the museum was shut, we need resources to maintain these collections," she adds.

In June 2021, the team from the 99-year-old museum wrote letters to their friends and well-wishers, requesting them to help out. Many of the museum's loyal patrons came forward to adopt galleries and artefacts during this time. As a tribute to this spirit, the museum will open its doors with a new exhibition titled Daanam - philanthropy with love, which is an assemblage of all the pieces which have been adopted up to now. With this, the museum hopes to urge people from all over India to adopt artefacts and galleries.

Adopt, preserve

"The scheme has two parts - one, where we urge people to come forward and adopt a gallery for two-three years so that we can support the maintenance of the gallery. This includes maintaining climate control, security and refurbishing these spaces from time to time," says Roy. "Secondly, based on their historic and cultural significance, we have divided our collection into three categories - treasures, masterpieces, and antiquities," she explains.

Praying for the sick by artist Pestonji Bomanji Mistri (1852-1938 CE)

Treasures are items of national importance and are most rare. This selection of 50 objects includes a first public proclamation of peace and harmony by a king, narratives of diverse religious philosophies and their peaceful co-existence, demonstration of socio-cultural life from the past among other priceless treasures. The masterpieces display a high level of craftsmanship and help contextualise the time they belong to. The antiquities are interesting old objects that are part of our history.

"Many of our objects are in the reserve, in our storage. The contributions help maintain them, and are also directed towards research by curators. It thus supports the cost that we incur to mount artworks, document, or publish them," she explains. Since the museum is undergoing conservation, currently select galleries like the coin and jewellery gallery, the natural history galleries, and the Children's Museum, which has a new exhibition called Entwined - about the relationship between humans and animals, will be open to the public.

Email: csmvsmumbai@gmail.com to adopt an artefact or gallery