Museums, national identity, and culture are connected through the human experience of emotions and

objects. These objects stoke nostalgia through emotions in which man can situate his being in all cultural
constructs of history.

On the occasion of International Museum Day -- organized by the National Museum, Ministry of Culture,
UNESCO Delhi Office, Partition Museum and Dronah -- one can glean the mental conditionings of the
leaders and executors of the museum spaces in India. Some of the most intelligent people in the field
today agree that museums in India are still a long way from realizing the full potential of being cultural
islands of time that speak to one’s imaginations in visceral and potent ways.

These spaces presently are a display cell for a plethora of objects that show the variety of Indian culture
without a story to tell. They do not yet caress our imagination which remains secondary to the ethos of
present museum culture. However, the ability of these objects to take one back in time presents a
fantastic potential that is yet to be harnessed.

The common man entering a museum presently still remains divorced from the aesthetics of India as
‘his’ India remains distant from the India he may be viewing. Such a distance in leading the viewer to
find himself in an exhibit is yet to be ideated upon and developed in the country’s authentic language.
The gap needs to be bridged wherein a National Museum or State Museum need to abandon the tag of
high culture places, but places that shape cultural identity of the individual and commemorates the
south Asian human efforts on synthesizing an intricately crafted culture unique to our people.

The UNESCO recommendations concerning the protection and promotion of museums and collections,
their diversity and their role in society defines the term ‘museum’ as a “non-profit, permanent
institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves,
researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its
environment for the purpose of education, study and enjoyment”.

The Term ‘collection’ is defined as “an assemblage of natural and cultural properties, tangible and
intangible, past and present” and finally the term ‘heritage’ is defined as a set of tangible and intangible
values, and expressions that people select and identify, independently of ownership, as a reflection and
expression of their identities, beliefs, knowledge and traditions, and living environments, deserving of
protection and enhancement by contemporary generations and transmissions to future generations.
The term ‘heritage’ also refers to the definitions of cultural and natural heritage, tangible and intangible,
cultural property and cultural objects as included in the UNESCO culture conventions.

Understanding these above definitions in the age of digitization and globalization, the government and
private institutions now realize the potential and value of a museum in relation to economy, quality of
life, forging a social role in situating identity and generating livelihoods. Dr. Jyotindra Jain pointed out
the need for upgrading basic elements of museum display such as lighting, information sharing,
digitization, conservation and storage needs to become more mindful of the landscape the museum
operates in.

the most important factor that can guide an average display to become a meaningful and pointed
display is the intuitive curation by a specialist. Curators and curating are at the heart of what makes
museums. As cultural instruments of communication, museums allow the selection of displaying
storylines about objects and people that are culturally, ideologically and politically weighted including
contested histories. The focus of the intelligentsia now needs to be on new trend in curatorial practices,
the alchemy of curating, the challenges and collective vision for community engagement through
museums.

An example of the same is recounted by Dr. Jain in Berlin where he visited the upcoming Museum für
Asiatische Kunst which has spent over 950 Million Euros in acquiring Indian Art, to populate 50 percent
of its collection into one of Indian origin. This focus highlights the value of the 95 percent percent of
Indian art which still lies in storage in our museums in India and are of high demand, with the potential
of commanding high revenue.

Additionally NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant urges authorities in revisiting the need for a Museum
Authority of India. He showcased Bilbao as an example to eloquently present a comparable model
wherein a city which was overrun by poverty has been elevated to a world class tourist destination in
record time owing to the strength of one museum -- the Guggenheim -- pulling tourists from all over the
world to re-route their itineraries through this city to experience a fresh culture that is simulated
through the soft power of music, theatre, museum displays, etc with a large museum establishment as
the anchor to this thriving economy.

In the last 60 years of India’s independent attempts at recording its own history, the country remains
behind schedule in proudly reclaiming its struggles and narratives by fashioning a multifarious national
identity through cultural endeavors can successfully build creative economies. Through private and
public efforts now the country is witnessing a renaissance of sorts where in museums are addressing
contested histories by saying the so far unspeakable in museums. Museums such as the Partition
Museum, Amritsar, Remember Bhopal museums are not only recording oral histories but becoming
forums for free expression, exhibition and becoming places of paying homage to our modern past, and
inspiring academic enlightenment by allowing people to deliberate on their personal histories.

The museums that are based upon tangible evidence of cultural as scientific progression of humankind
are now becoming relevant arenas of engagement for the common man. It is through these efforts Mr.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director General and Board of Trustees CSMVS says “that an environment is
created that allows viewers to learn, reflect and assimilate the world on their own basis, the baggage of
preconceptions and biases can be dispelled and new enlightenment attitudes engendered.”