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STROLLING DOWN LANES OF HISTORY
Indian Express
Aug 9 2014
By B Sudharsan
CHENNAI: It's 11 am and the scene at the Government Museum, Egmore, is
animated, filled with activity. On one side, there are school children,
running around and playing on the lanes inside the complex, and on
the other, we find a few visitors engaged in an intense discussion.
And then there's an extraordinary calmness. Extraordinary, because
it exists despite the hustle and bustle of the city. It's a silence
that divulges tales of the structure's past and architectural
beauty. The red-coat edifices house baroque carpentry, conventional
and contemporary portraits, Buddhist statuary, engineered art works,
and the famed museum theatre.
Previously known as Madras Museum, this is the second oldest museum,
only after the Indian Museum (Kolkata).
It is also called the Government Museum as the ownership lies with the
State Government. It's also the first ever museum to have been built
under a State Government's patronage. The museum that was initiated
162 years ago, in 1851, on College Road in Nungambakkam, was shifted to
Egmore in 1854 as per the first officer in-charge Dr Edward Balfour's
order.Today, around 1,000 people visit the complex every day, making
this museum one of the most frequented spots in the city.
Pantheon Past
The Pantheon estate, where the museum now stands, was gifted to Hall
Plumer, a civil servant, in 1778, by the then Governor of Madras.
However, in 1793, Plumer sold the estate to a board of 24 members who
managed public entertainment activities in Madras during that period.
After 77 years, in 1821, the estate was sold to an Armenian merchant,
E S Moorat. It finally came back to the government in 1830, when
Moorat sold the 43-acre land for `28, 000.
How the children's musem came to be
During the early 1850s, a Museum zoo was built in the area. Six years
later, a zoological garden was opened with 360 animals and birds.
Meanwhile, in the 1860s, an upper storey was added to the public
assembly room, known as the Pantheon (the Pantheon Road gets its
name from here), where the elite fraction of the city gathered
occasionally. A building housing contemporary art works was opened at
The Connemera Public Library, which had a 200-feet high tower (tallest
structure at that point in Madras). It came into being in 1896, but the
tower was later demolished. The theatre museum was also initiated in
1896. In 1984, a separate building was erected that housed contemporary
art, and in 1988, the children's museum came into existence.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Strolling-down-lanes-of-history/2014/08/09/article2370240.ece
Indian Express
Aug 9 2014
By B Sudharsan
CHENNAI: It's 11 am and the scene at the Government Museum, Egmore, is
animated, filled with activity. On one side, there are school children,
running around and playing on the lanes inside the complex, and on
the other, we find a few visitors engaged in an intense discussion.
And then there's an extraordinary calmness. Extraordinary, because
it exists despite the hustle and bustle of the city. It's a silence
that divulges tales of the structure's past and architectural
beauty. The red-coat edifices house baroque carpentry, conventional
and contemporary portraits, Buddhist statuary, engineered art works,
and the famed museum theatre.
Previously known as Madras Museum, this is the second oldest museum,
only after the Indian Museum (Kolkata).
It is also called the Government Museum as the ownership lies with the
State Government. It's also the first ever museum to have been built
under a State Government's patronage. The museum that was initiated
162 years ago, in 1851, on College Road in Nungambakkam, was shifted to
Egmore in 1854 as per the first officer in-charge Dr Edward Balfour's
order.Today, around 1,000 people visit the complex every day, making
this museum one of the most frequented spots in the city.
Pantheon Past
The Pantheon estate, where the museum now stands, was gifted to Hall
Plumer, a civil servant, in 1778, by the then Governor of Madras.
However, in 1793, Plumer sold the estate to a board of 24 members who
managed public entertainment activities in Madras during that period.
After 77 years, in 1821, the estate was sold to an Armenian merchant,
E S Moorat. It finally came back to the government in 1830, when
Moorat sold the 43-acre land for `28, 000.
How the children's musem came to be
During the early 1850s, a Museum zoo was built in the area. Six years
later, a zoological garden was opened with 360 animals and birds.
Meanwhile, in the 1860s, an upper storey was added to the public
assembly room, known as the Pantheon (the Pantheon Road gets its
name from here), where the elite fraction of the city gathered
occasionally. A building housing contemporary art works was opened at
The Connemera Public Library, which had a 200-feet high tower (tallest
structure at that point in Madras). It came into being in 1896, but the
tower was later demolished. The theatre museum was also initiated in
1896. In 1984, a separate building was erected that housed contemporary
art, and in 1988, the children's museum came into existence.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Strolling-down-lanes-of-history/2014/08/09/article2370240.ece