7 years on, Pratap Singh Museum gets new home

Tribune News Service

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Srinagar, January 13

After a long wait of over seven years, the new Shri Pratap Singh Museum building is ready and may be inaugurated soon after the next government takes charge.

The foundation of the new museum was laid in 2008 by then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The official concerned said the building was complete and would be inaugurated once the new government assumes office.

“The work is almost complete and the new building will be inaugurated once the next government takes charge,” Director Archives, Archaeology and Museums, MS Zahid told The Tribune.

Though the project missed several deadlines in the past, Zahid said late Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had taken personal interest in the completion of the building. “He (Mufti Sayeed) visited the building premises two to four times. It was his dream to make the new museum building functional at the earliest. It was due to his efforts that the Tagore Hall too was reopened after several years,” said Zahid.

A renovated Tagore Hall, which used to be a hub of cultural activities before the eruption of militancy in the state, was reopened after nine long years in October 2015.

Zahid said most of the artifacts had been shifted from the old museum block to the new building located on the banks of the Jhelum.

The old Shri Pratap Singh Museum was founded in 1898 and had suffered damages during the devastating September floods of 2014.

The museum contains a treasure trove of artifacts from Kalhana’s Rajatarangni in the Sharada script to clay images of the 9th century AD. The museum also contains rock and solid brass statues, besides ancient Buddha sculptures and olden weapons.

Due to space crunch at the old museum building all the artifacts could not be displayed.

The new museum building, besides attracting people interested in ancient art and architecture of the Kashmiri civilisation, is also expected to evolve as a major tourist destination.