Country's First Cartography Museum Inaugurated in Mussoorie | 04 Oct 2023

Why In News?

Recently, Uttarakhand Tourism and Culture Minister Satpal Maharaj inaugurated the country's first cartography museum, George Everest Cartography Museum, in the picturesque city of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.

Key Points:

• On the occasion of World Tourism Day on September 27, Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj inaugurated the Sir George Everest Museum built at a cost of Rs 23 crore 52 lakh and the helipad at George Everest in Mussoorie.
• The tourism minister dedicated the country's first mapping museum to the great mathematician Radhanath Sikdar and Pandit Nain Singh Rawat.
• It is noteworthy that the museum is located in the Park Estate, which used to be the residence of the famous surveyor Sir George Everest, after whom Mount Everest was named. This hill is in the Hathipaon area of the city. Sir Everest lived in this house from 1832 to 1843 and it is one of the first houses built in Mussoorie.
• Sir George Everest House, built in 1832, has been developed as a museum. With the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Department of Tourism has renovated it with a budget of Rs 23.5 crore.
• The museum contains information about the history of cartography, instruments related to cartography, great Indian surveyors and the great trigonometric survey.
• Along with Sir George Everest, letters of Surveyor Nain Singh Rawat will also be kept in this museum. Along with this, people will also come face to face with the observatory of surveyor Kishan Singh Negi and mathematician Radhanath Sikdar.
• In the Cartographic Museum, tourists will also be able to know the working of GPS, for which the globe has been prepared. The museum has been prepared with modern technology, such as how do satellites work. How are GPS and communication systems operated in them? This information can also be obtained.
• The complete information about the equipment that the tourists coming to this museum will stand in front of will be displayed, which will be operated through special software and all the information will be available on the mobile as soon as the QR code is scanned.
• It is noteworthy that cartography is about exploring and making maps. It uses science, art and technical skills to depict real or imagined places, helping to understand where things are located.