The Madras Week started off as Madras Day six years ago to commemorate the founding of the city on August 22.
The celebrations this year will be held till September 1, the organisers told mediapersons here on Friday.
Historian S. Muthiah said the prime objective of the celebrations is to spread heritage awareness, particularly in schools and colleges.
One of the significant features would be the participation of nearly 70 schools and 12 colleges.
Several government departments, such as Archaeological Survey of India and Government Museum, would also host events.
Some of the organisations that have joined in this year’s Madras Week celebrations include Alliance Francaise and Russian Cultural Centre.
Wikipedia would take people on a photographic hunt of the city, enabling them to take as many photographs of Chennai to illustrate Wikipedia articles, he said.
Besides heritage walks and talks, five photo walks would be conducted.
Freelance journalist Shashi Nair said that the list of programmes is getting longer. Vijayantha Higher Secondary School, Avadi, would conduct a bicycle rally from Avadi to Marina beach on August 22.
S. Suresh, convenor of Intach, Chennai Chapter, said several Chennai Corporation schools would participate in the events. A series of competitions, including quiz, essay writing and painting, would be held on the theme ‘Coins.’
One of the highlights of the events would be a reading session on ‘Madras Madrigals,’ a compilation of interesting verses on the city from the book that is out of print, he said.
V. Sriram of Chennai Heritage, said several programmes will be organised in Tamil, including book releases and talks.
This year, the celebrations would focus on youngsters in the city.
A few bands, which have composed songs about Chennai, would be performing in places such as Elliots Beach.
Besides an exhibition on bridges, coins and books, a special cover on arch bridges of the city would be released on Madras Day on August 22.
Details of the programmes will be available on www.themadrasday.in.
