Haryana’s first vintage camera museum will soon come up at Chakkarpur village community centre in Gurugram.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and India Photo Archive Foundation (IPAF) to set up the museum, proposed to be named ‘Museo Camera’.
The museum will be set up at a cost of ₹4.22 crore and is likely to be completed within 8-10 months.
Spread over an area of 18,000 square feet, the museum will look at the evolution of the camera, and host photographic art, and rare photo archives of the freedom movement. It will also house rare cameras, lenses, apertures and other equipment — some of them dating back to the 1860s.
A collection of vintage cameras and equipment by photographer Aditya Arya will form the core of the exhibits.
Mr. Arya currently runs a vintage camera museum from the basement of his house in DLF Phase-III.
Bomber cameras
“This new museum will help people explore the wonderful world of camera and photography, and its evolution,” said Mr. Arya.
The museum will display photo archives of the freedom movement, which will be part of the ‘Kulwant Roy’ Collection.
It will also feature cameras that were once mounted on the bomber aircraft during attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Besides a workshop, library and cafeteria, the museum will also have a dark room where visitors can develop their own photographs.
Aside from historic photos, the museum will host galleries displaying contemporary photography to promote emerging artists.
‘Unmatched collection’
MCG Commissioner V. Umashankar said: “The museum will have an unmatched collection of rare cameras, photographs and allied equipment. We are sure that the museum will soon prove to be an iconic destination in Gurugram.”
