SPS Museum

Established in the year 1898, Sri Pratap Singh Museum at Lal Mandi, Srinagar on the left bank of river Jhelum remained one of the much visited places by the locals as well as visitors and tourists. The importance of a museum depends on its historicity. Since inception of Dogra rule in the State in 1846 by Maharaja Gulab Singh, this museum remained an important source of entertainment and knowledge for the antiquarians, historians and lovers of art. The fact is that it has always remained a very important and valuable source where artefacts of rarity and value remained deposited. It contains some of the rarest of rare sculptures, numismatics, terracotta and pottery, miniature paintings and photographs, armour and accoutrement, utensils, upholstery, specimens of woodwork, papier machie and shawl weaving etc. In fact the museum enshrines the ancient and modern history of Jammu and Kashmir.
It was a right decision on the part of the Government to raise a new modern building to house the museum in line with modern techniques and exhibition. Consequently, a hefty amount of 65 crore rupees was sanctioned for the new museum complex which was to come up adjacent to the existing museum building in Lal Mandi area. The work on the new complex was begun in 2008 and it was supposed to be completed by the contracting agency of Police Housing Corporation.
The project has jumped three dead lines and still there is no clear indication when the museum will be thrown open to the public. It was proposed to organise opening function in the month of January 2016 but owing to a number of events happening ever since opening ceremony of the new complex could not be arranged. The point is that shifting of most of the artefacts from the old building to the new one has been completed and around 80,000 rare artefacts have already been moved into the new complex. However about 27 artefacts were damaged during the floods of September 2014. Interior work of the upper floors remains to be completed.
The point is that now that the artefacts have been shifted and the ground floor is all set to become functional, there is no signal from the concerned Government quarters about throwing the museum open to the public. The functionaries of the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums are at a loss to explain why the concerned authorities are not showing any interest in organizing the opening function and allowing the complex to begin its normal and routine work. Is there abject carelessness and apathy at top level that dissuades authorities from throwing the museum open.
Delaying its formal opening means a loss to the Museum and cultural loss to the people who are eager to visit it and know of ancient history and culture of Kashmir. This is the peak of season for the visits of tourists from different parts of the country and abroad. Why should these visitors be deprived of the pleasure and urge of knowing Kashmir from fascinating visuals? We are not doing good service to our culture and history.
Here we would like to add that a museum has not to be static but moving. What we mean to say is that new artefacts should continue to be added to its fund. For that purpose good deal of amount should be kept at the disposal of concerned authorities so that rare and valuable artefacts are added and the museum is enriched. Many other facilities have to be provided to make it really attractive. The most important thing to do is to throw it open to the public without the waste of a single day.

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