Indian Museum’s Collection Going Online With Google

Kolkata: Beginning with its prized collection of Buddhist art including the famous Gandhara sculptures, the Indian Museum is now putting all of its galleries for 360- degree panoramic viewing for anyone to see online.

As part of a tie-up with the Google Cultural Institute, which allows art lovers to explore artifacts from all over the world on its website, the Indian Museum is launching an e-version of its exquisite exhibition titled Indian Buddhist Art on Wednesday.

“This is the first virtual exhibition we are organizing after which all our galleries will gradually be available on the Google Cultural Institute website,” museum director Jayanta Sengupta said. Three galleries, including those on Buddhist sculptures, are ready for 360-degree panoramic viewing on the internet. “This allows anyone to have a walk through the gallery and see it as you do it with your eyes. You can scroll around to see even the ceiling and the floor,” he added.

Since last year, a team of Google from the UK and the US have been working hard with their specialized and patented camera technology to click high-resolution photos of the treasures lying in the museum.

Over 200 years old, Indian Museum is the oldest and the largest multi-purpose museum in Asia.

The biggest repository of Indian antiquity, some of the museum’s prized possessions include an Egyptian mummy, Buddhist stupa from Bharhut, Buddha’s ashes, Ashoka pillar, fossil skeletons of pre-historic animals and a collection of meteorites.

The museum director rejects suggestions that once all galleries are online the number of visitors at their campus will decrease. “Internationally this has been the case. After people see it online they are more motivated to see the real thing and so they walk into the museum,” he said.

Spread over 10,000 square feet area, it boasts of over sixty galleries of art, archeology, anthropology, geology, zoology and botany sections. It houses rare artifacts of great archival and heritage value numbering more than a lakh.