Governor Performed Bhoomi Poojan of the New Building and New Galleries of the Archaeological Museum, Ujjain

• 19 Jan 2023

Why In News?

• On January 18, 2023, Governor Mangubhai Patel laid the foundation stone of new galleries including a new building in the Archaeological Museum complex at Vikram Kirti Mandir Ujjain. Governor and Higher Education Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav also inspected the Archaeological Museum .

Key points

• The Vikram Kirti Mandir Museum at Ujjain Vikram University has some collections of rich history of the city, with artifacts of almost all periods, rulers.
• The museum has a vast collection of 650 artifacts from the prehistoric era and 30,000 rare manuscripts. The present building of the museum is dilapidated. The renovation and upgradation of the museum will be done by Ujjain Smart City. For this work order has been issued to M/s Doshi Consultant Pvt. Ltd, Indore.
• The proposed works will include construction of new building of 1200 sqm, upgradation/renovation of existing structure of 4500 sqm and setting up of new gallery for displaying artefacts, air conditioning and modern storage/display, lighting and information about artefacts and manuscripts through audio/digital mode and development of public amenities etc.
• The new galleries, including the construction of archaeological museum building, will be constructed at a cost of Rs 14 crore. In the coming days, the government will be able to decorate the museum at a cost of Rs 14 crore. In these, work will be done to give the museum a state-of-the-art look and preserve the preserved statues and relics.
• Archaeological heritage kept in the Archaeological Museum, five lakh years old world famous elephant head, rhino horn, hip teeth of a hippopotamus, wild buffalo jaw and 200 other fossils and other remains will be displayed in various galleries.
• The stone tools made by early man collected by Dr. Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar in the archaeological excavation of Bhim Betka will also be displayed in this museum.
• In this museum, 10 logs, which are 2600 years old, found from the banks of Shipra River located in Gadkalika region as the remains of the wooden wall and port built during the time of King Chand Pradyot of Ujjain will also be displayed. Along with this, four thousand years old archaeological material obtained with the excavation of Kayatha, Mahidpur, Azad Nagar, Runija, Sodang, Takravada in the rural areas of Ujjain will be displayed.
• Apart from this, it has been planned to enrich the museum by displaying 472 rare stone statues present in the museum, which are from Mauryan period to Maratha period, in newly built galleries. In the first phase, building construction will be done at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore and interior work will be done at a cost of Rs 6.5 crore.