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Government Museum, Chennai conducts a
number educational activities by providing research facilities and loan of objects,
Training Courses, competitions and Celebrations, Seminars, Workshops, Camps, Monthly
Popular and Special lectures, organising Endowment Lectures, Rallies etc. to popularise
the Museum and its existence, and make awareness among the public about the importance of
our Heritage. In this connection on 22.3.2001, a Seminar on quot; Our Role in Protecting
Cultural Heritage" was organised at the Museum theatre at Government Museum, Chennai
in connection with the establishment of Government Museum, Virudunagar on 10.3.2001.
The
inauguration of training programme on Care of Museum Objects was conducted on 1.6.2000 and a
book on Holistic Approach to Dating in Ancient Indian History especially Indian History
(Monograph) authored by Dr. R. Kannan, I.A.S., being released and the first copy were received
by Mr.R.B. Baskaran, Principal, Government College of Arts, Chennai. |
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Thiru S.
Ramakrishnan,I.A.S., Secretary, Tamil development - Culture & Endowments
Department,Government of Tamil Nadu releasing the Museum's Journal (Tamil and English), 1999. |
Authors Dr.
R. Kannan, Ph.D., I.A.S., Commissioner of Museums and Thiru K. Lakshminarayanan, Curator
presenting for All India release of the book on "Jain Iconography" (publication of
Government Museum, Chennai) to the President of Museum Association of India; during the All
India Museum Conference held at Nasik from April 26th to 28th 2001 |
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In connection
with the refurbishment of Geology Gallery in Government Museum, Chennai by applying the
concept of Participatory Rural Appraisal, the team led by Dr. R. Kannan. I.A.S. Commissioner
of Museums; along with Thiru N. Harinarayana, former Director of Museums, Government Museum,
Chennai; Dr. S. P. Singh, Conservator, National Museum, New Delhi; Thiru. K. Lakshminarayanan,
Assistant Director of Museums; Thiru. M. Mohan Curator in charge, Geology Section, Government
Museum, Chennai visiting the Mineral (Gargoti) Museum at Nashik during their participation in
the All India Museums Conference held at Nasik, 2001
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Dr. R.
Kannan. I.A.S. Commissioner of Museums; Presenting his paper 'Museology - An Academic
Discipline That Requires Professional Training - The Experience of the Department of Museums,
Government of Tamil Nadu’ - paper presented in the Workshop on ‘Museology, An
Academic discipline and a Professional Training - An Indian Retrospective’ organised by
the Aligarh Muslim University at Aligarh. |
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In connection
with the Children's Day Celebrations 2004, among the various schools children of Chennai city,
competition were organised in Drawing and Oratorical for different age groups on different
themes. Dr. Sarojini Varadappan, President, Indian Red Cross Society, Tamil Nadu Branch
distributing prizes and certificates for the successful participants on 24.11.2004. Dr Raja
Mohamed, Assistant Director of Museums; Dr. Sarojini Varadappan; Thiru. T.K. Ramachandran,
I.A.S., Project Director, Sarva Siksha Abhyan, Chennai and Thiru M.A Siddique, I.A.S.,
Director of Museums, (left to right) look on. |
Government
Museum, Chennai organised an Endowment lecture for the endowment instituted by the
International Women's Association, Chennai. An eminent scholar, Dr Rajeswari Ghose, delivering
her lecture at the Museum Theatre, Government Museum Chennai on 24.03.2005. |
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Visual
Storage
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New storage methods like Visual Storage of paintings and Modular
Storage of sculptures on the lines of the British Museums were introduced. This was a result
of the Curators having visited London on a scholarship. On return, they were made to show the
photographs of storage in the British Museum to the Commissioner, who himself remained
attached firmly to Indian soil. From the Photographs, the new methods were replicated. Design
specifications were drawn up by the Commissioner of Museums and the Curator for Design and
Display visiting the Bureau of Indian Standards and the British Council Library.Paintings,
which were stored in a simple manner in stacks in the past, were rearranged in this new method
of storage cum display. The advantages are visual display of even the reserve collection
besides avoiding scratching and damage. In the case of modular design, unlike in the usual
rigid structure, sculptures and objects of different sizes and weights can be accommodated.
This was done in 2000-2001 and was a first for Indian museums at that time. |
A dream
comes true through digitising the spoken form of Languages and Dialects of the Madras
Presidency from the gramophone records recorded in 1922.
A very important
task taken up in the year 2001 has been the recording of the 126 – 78 RPM old
gramophone records recorded in 1922 AD of the Language and Dialects of the Madras
Presidency as Sample Records by the Gramophone Company of India (HMV), Kolkata. We got a
very rare old player to decode the records through the help of the Station Director, All
India Radio, Mr. B.R. Kumar. The studio eliminated the noise ‘wow’ and
‘flutter’, which characterises these old type records and digitally recorded the
sounds on CDs. These gramophone records record the spoken form of the Languages and
Dialects of the Madras Presidency till 1922. To correlate with this, we have published a
book 145;Gramophone Records of the Languages and Dialects of the Madras Presidency - Text
of Pages’ of these records. Therefore any anthropologist who buys this book with CDs,
which are available for sale, can have complete access to the data collected up to 1922 AD
of the oral traditions of South India.
Expertise
and Out-reach activities
The Departments of
Archaeology and Museums whose work is inter-related have been brought under the control of
the same Commissioner for the first time vide G.O. No. Ms.238, Tamil Development, Culture,
Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department dated 1-10-2001. They were delinked
in 2002 AD.
During this period,
archaeological prescriptions for renovating temples and murals in Tiruvarur temple,
Varadaraja temple at Kancheepuram, other temples and monuments were done by Dr. R. Kannan,
IAS. in coordination with the Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of
India, Thiru K.T.Narasimhan. This work was taken up for the first time by the State
Department itself. Renovation of half of Tranquebar Fort and lighting it withmonument
lighting has been hailed all over the world as a success story in conservation in July14,
2002.
Sandblasting as a method
of cleaning oil accretions in temples resulted in loss of features of sculptures and
inscriptions besides damaging the structure itself. This has been banned from the year
2002 due to the efforts of this department. Arranging training for using alternative
methods of cleaning in temples using harmless neutral chemicals for staff of several
departments including the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, Railways
and Police is an instance of Participatory Methodology at work. This should help to save
our cultural heritage from serious damage.
Tranquebar Fort in daylight
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Tranquebar Fort in daylight |
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Tranquebar Fort under monument lighting at night.
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1. Dr.R. Kannan keenly observing
the restoration works at the recently conserved Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal, Madurai - 2003 2. Outer view of the Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal.
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| Dr. R. Kannan, I.A.S.,
explaining the alternative to sandblasting method at Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane,
Chennai. Chemical cleaning was done at the temple. - 2002. |
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Dr. R. Kannan and their team visiting the
Tiruppudaimarudur temple to give their expertise for its conservation - April 2004.
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| Discussing about the current
state the paintings drawn on the inner wall of the Gopuram at Tirppudaimarudur, 2004. Seen (R
to L), Thiru K.Lakshminarayanan, Dr. R. Kannan, I.A.S., Thiru R. Balasubramanian and another. |
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Dr. R. Kannan I.A.S., sharing
his views with the Genreal Manager of ICF, Thiru Ramani standing next to him (blue shirt) at
the inauguration of the Regional Rail Museum, by Southern Railway at Villivakkam, Chennai,
2003. |
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Educational
Activities - Government Museum, Chennai