A date at a museum | Mumbai

After being married for 4 years, ‘dating’ had to get a new definition all together. So last weekend, my lovely friend Pooja suggested to go on a date at a museum. And what a refreshing date it was. We packed ourselves a little picnic bag filled with cheese cubes, cut fruits, and kokum coolar drink. (ps. i am a huge picnic fan….i love everything about picnic. But another post maybe on that)

Early Years

The idea of setting up a museum in Mumbai was mooted in 1850 when preparations were being made for the first ‘Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations’ to be held in London’s Crystal Palace in 1851. Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria, wanted to present to the world the industrial arts and crafts of Britain’s colonies and thereby stimulate trade for these products. Duplicates of India’s beautiful arts and crafts that were sent to the Great Exhibition from the Bombay Presidency formed the nucleus of the new museum’s collection. The Museum was established in 1855 in the Town Barracks as the Central Museum of Natural History, Economy, Geology, Industry and Arts.

In 1858, soon after the Crown took over the direct governance of India from the East India Company, a group of public spirited citizens decided that the first important public institution to be built in Bombay would be a museum along with a natural history and botanical garden.

Founders

Bhau Daji Lad is one of the olddest museum of Bombay, built in 1871. Existing building of this museum was built with the patronage of many wealthy Indian businessmen and philanthropists like David Sassoon, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy and Jaganath Shunkerseth.

However, this beautiful museum fell into ruins and was in miserable condition. In 2003, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in collaboration with the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai undertook extensive refurbishment of the building. After five years of painstaking and intensive work, the Museum reopened to the Public on 4 January 2008.

The Museum

This gorgeous museum, built in Renaissance revival style in 1871 as the Victoria & Albert Museum, contains 3500-plus objects centring on Mumbai’s history – photography, maps, textiles, books, manuscripts, Bidriware (Bidar’s metalwork), lacquerware, weaponry and exquisite pottery. The landmark building was renovated in 2008, with its Minton-tile floors, gilded ceiling mouldings, ornate columns, chandeliers and staircases all gloriously restored.  A planned, architecturally stunning 11,000-sq-metre wing was currently caught up in a bureaucratic quagmire. The museum, which also hosts a bevy of temporary exhibitions, is located in the lush gardens of Jijamata Udyan, which has a zoo attached. Contemporary music, dance and drama feature in the Plaza area, where there’s a cafe and shop.

Tours

The museum has complimentary tours at 11:30 am in English & 12:30 pm Hindi on Saturday & Sunday. The museum also provides private curated tours to understand the history & collectives of the museum from the expert. I highly recommend to take one of the tours to understand to enrich the experience of visiting this beautiful place. One thing that jumps out most to me is, the museum also helps you arrange for special day celebration like birthday, etc.

This is a must visit and i say your visit to Mumbai will be incomplete without visiting this place.

Here is a visual trip of the museum: