The Archaeological Survey of India (Bengaluru Circle) plans to have a new museum building at Halebidu and introduce heritage walks in the historic town of Srirangapatna.
This was stated by ASI Superintending Archaeologist Shivakant Bajpai on the sidelines of the inauguration of World Heritage Week celebrations and a photo exhibition of monuments at Dariya Daulat Bagh in Srirangapatna on Tuesday.
Mr. Bajpai said the proposal for a new museum building at Halebidu was not new but did not gain traction due to various reasons but he would expedite the process so as to have a full-fledged museum. At present, there is an open air museum close to the Hoysaleshwara temple and it was opened in the 1970s. It has over 1,500 sculptures and artefacts on display and the collection ranges from dancing Ganesha to Nataraja, Govardhanagiridhari Krishna to Nandi, among others.
A building will provide the displays, which are now exposed to elements of nature, better protection while funds can also be used to create better facilities such as conference or seminar hall, cafeteria for tourists etc., to enhance visitor experience, said Mr. Bajpai.
Similarly, there are plans for a heritage walk in Srirangapatna which is strewn with monuments that could be classified under different heads including religious (Sriranganathaswamy temple, Jamia Masjid, Paschimavahini), military and administrative like the Fort, Armoury, Garrison, Obelisk etc;, Dariya Daulat Bagh, and Gumbaz, among others.
Mr. Bajpai said the ASI would like to involve with local guides and history buffs, retired teachers and university students interested in monuments. ASI staff in Srirangapatna would coordinate the activity. Details like the trail and the monuments that need to be covered were yet to be worked out.
It is perceived that Srirangapatna being a popular tourist destination, heritage walk would be an added attraction to niche tourists and history buffs to explore the salient features of the island at leisure and give tourism more traction.
Incidentally, both Srirangapatna and Halebidu (along with Belur) are on the tentative list of UNESCO world heritage sites and it would be in fitness of things to have something new to shore up the conservation movement, said heritage expert and writer Gouri Satya.
Earlier, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore G. Hemantha Kumar inaugurated the photo exhibition of museums. The ASI is observing Heritage Week from November 19 to 25 all over India and the Bengaluru Circle has planned a series of lectures at its office from November 20 besides a heritage walk in Bengaluru on November 24.
Entry to Dariya Daulat Bagh was free for tourists to mark the Heritage Week celebrations.
