North Block will now go back in time, gallery to showcase 100 artefacts

The gallery is part of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum complex at the North and South Blocks. And accordingly, it will have artefacts spanning thousands of years, covering all regions — starting with an Indus Valley terracotta hourglass created in Kalibangan between 2500-1700 BC; Chola bronzes created in the 10th and 11th centuries in Tamil Nadu; an astrolabe created in Lahore in 1567; and Gupta-period sculptures created in the 5th century.

The Indian Express had reported in May that the overarching theme of Yuge Yugeen Museum is 5,000 years of Indian civilisation, with the name signifying its “perennial” nature. Divided into thematic zones spread over the North and South Blocks, the museum will showcase historical events, personalities, ideas and achievements related to India’s past that have contributed to the making of its present.

In this context, “Time and Timelessness” is the first gallery for which the concept note has been finalised. “This gallery is not a conventional chronicle of historical milestones. It is mooted as an experiential narrative that invites visitors to engage with ‘Kaal’ (time) as a cosmic principle, a philosophical inquiry and a lived reality,” said sources.

Through a curated mix of artefacts, narratives and immersive design, the “aim is to highlight how India’s indigenous conceptions of time have shaped and sustained one of the world’s oldest continuous civilisations, while also remaining relevant in the contemporary imagination”, the sources said.

The gallery will be divided into two sections: Kaal-Avadharana, signifying time as a philosophical concept and Kaal-Ganana, the “measured science of time”. Accordingly, there will be instruments such as sundials, water clocks and astronomical manuscripts in the science and mathematics section, while the philosophical section will draw on landmark artworks such as Nataraja bronzes, and the depictions of Surya, Vishnu and mythic time cycles.

Besides, there will be displays of key manuscripts and texts, such as excerpts from “Aryabhatiya” by Aryabhata, and cosmological diagrams to set the narrative in an Indian perspective. Since it is a gallery, elements depicting India’s visual culture — textile scrolls, mural fragments and illustrated manuscripts — will also be placed, alongside time-stamped records, calendrical references and inscriptions.

According to sources, the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum complex is being built for an estimated annual footfall of 10 million. Expected to overtake the Louvre in Paris as the “largest museum in the world”, the 1,55,000 sqm complex is a key part of the Central Vista Redevelopment Project. In December 2024, an agreement was signed between National Museum and France Museums Development for technical cooperation in the development of the museum. The first gallery is expected to be completed in less than a year.

Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More

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