A proposal has been mooted by the Department of Culture to build a museum at Anantapur or Hyderabad highlighting various aspects of the ruler of Vijayanagar empire, Sri Krishnadevaraya, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of his coronation.
The museum will house sculptures and various other exhibits besides a research centre, familiarising the present generation with Sri Krishnadevaraya, whose rule was termed by historians as golden age, and who called Telugu the best of languages.
Anantapur has been shortlisted along with Hyderabad for construction of the museum as Anantapur and Penukonda formed core areas of Vijayanagra empire lying close to Hampi, the capital of the empire. As the money required is rather large, the government may opt to implement it in phases due to the financial crunch. Sources told this correspondent here on Monday that Chief Minister K. Rosaiah gave a patient hearing when he was sounded about the plan recently.
Celebrations
The Chief Minister cleared the proposal for the year-long celebrations of the anniversary from August 7, 2010. The main function would be held at Anantapur and other events at other places associated with Sri Krishnadevaraya like Udayagiri (Nellore district), Penukonda (Anantapur), Chandragiri (Chittoor), Simhachalam (Visakhapatnam), Srikakulam (Krishna) and Kondaveedu (Guntur).
The expenditure on the celebrations is initially estimated at Rs. 1 crore, but it may go up to Rs. 5 crore, an official said. S. Chellapa, principal secretary, Culture, said the TTD would participate in the event planned at Chandragiri. It would organise an exhibition of the jewellery offered by Sri Krishnadevaraya to Lord Venkateswara during his six recorded visits to Tirumala. The TTD would also take a ratham of Sri Krishnadevaraya to different places in the State during the year. Meanwhile, a Rs 29-crore project has been started to renovate Kondaveedu port. Plans are afoot to lay approach roads, introduce boating on the three lakes on the hill, and provide tourist facilities. Roddam Prabhakara Rao, former DGP, and others have taken up a project to construct a museum at Penukonda with contributions. Sri Krishnadevaraya captured this fort on June 23, 1518 after a six-month long battle with the Gajapatis.
