Mumbai: Next time when you wait to collect your checked-in bags at the integrated Terminal 2, don’t forget to take a look at the exhibits displayed by the Mumbai airport museum near the conveyor belt area.
“We have showcased the diversity of textiles and costumes of ancient India on the baggage carousels,” an airport official said on Tuesday.
The artefacts have been placed in such a manner that they will not miss the eye of passengers. “We have mounted them on the pillars and the carousel deck. These are sure to grab attention,” the official said.
This is the first time that GVK, the airport operator which runs the museum called Jaya He, has used the baggage claims area in the arrivals section to display exhibits.
Artworks and sculptures have been spread over the terminal as one heads towards departure. “Since its opening in 2014, Jaya He has brought together designers, artists, artisans, architects, art historians, anthropologists and conservators, all working to interpret India culturally, aesthetically, historically and socially in a manner that leaves visitors with doubt that they are in the heart of the South Asian subcontinent,” another airport official said.
Jaya He, the only airport museum in the country, is spread across four levels at T2, showcasing art and craft, paintings and sculptures, depicting Indian art and culture. It has over 5,500 artefacts, works of 100 artists and some 1,000 artisans, spread across 3.2 km.
In the past, museum director Rekha Nair had said while The Louvre in Paris has a footfall of around 10 million, Jaya He has a ready-made set of 48 million passengers who transit through the terminal every year.
The T2 project, initiated in 2008, was often referred as the world’s most constrained one. In March 2009, Sanjay Reddy, vice-chairman of GVK group, laid out his vision to artist Rajeev Sethi when he said: “Make the airport so nice that people don’t mind missing their planes.”
