‘Adopt' a museum artefact, save history this festive season

Know someone who would like a sixth-century ‘Head of a Damsel’ for Christmas? Or maybe a 400-year-old silk thangka painting of Chundhaa, goddess and protector from epidemics and diseases?

- Mohua Das

Instead of the predictable exchange of presents this festive season, these endangered objects can make for a gift that can keep on giving with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) allowing people to adopt centuries-old artefacts under their own name, in memory of someone or in dedication to a loved one as a way to mitigate the pandemic-induced losses and care for their precious relics.

Even as most public spaces gingerly emerge from the lockdown, cultural sites like museums, monuments and art galleries — stagnant for months — are still awaiting the green light from the state government. For CSMVS — after ticket sales and other revenue-generating activities came to a halt since March — ‘Adopt a Museum Artefact’ is an opportunity that the 98year-old museum in Fort has devised to forge a personal connect between people and an art object that resonates with them, thus driving them to support its ongoing care and preservation.