In the works, world’s largest museum with India’s story of 5,000 years

Divided into eight thematic zones, the museum will showcase historical events, personalities, ideas and achievements related to India’s past that have contributed to the making of India’s present. It will tell the story of 5,000 years of Indian civilisation, said officialS, adding that the name signifies the civilisation’s “perennial” nature.

Though the project is slated for completion by 2026, no concrete deadline has been set yet. Sources said that North and South Block, where the museum will come up, are office buildings and will take time to be converted into visitor-friendly spaces.

Sources also said the design would be finalised after the Culture Ministry completes its work on the theme and content. And construction work will start only when the Ministries and the Prime Minister’s Office, that function out of North Block and South Block, are shifted out as part of the Central Vista project. With the present National Museum on Janpath set to give way to government offices, its collection will be shifted to the new space.

France will share its expertise in major cultural projects with India, said officials. The retrofitting of a heritage building to accommodate the display, storage, and exhibition of various artefacts — similar to what was done with the Louvre Palace — will be applied to this project.

The new museum is aimed to be more interactive, and is expected to incorporate audiovisual elements and virtual walkthroughs, as per officials.

While speaking about the new national museum project, the architect of the Central Vista redevelopment, Bimal Patel, invoked the symbolism of the move. “The British built it as the symbol of the Raj… By recasting the iconography of power in space by changing the use, we’re changing the meaning of the place,” he said at CEPT University in October 2021.