Museum_Wonk

Maize God also known as Corn God is one of the most important deities in Mesoamerica, especially during Classic Maya period. Maize was the staple crop of most of the Pre-Columbian North American, Mesoamerican and South American cultures that redefined their cultural, social and economical parameters. The Corn God was believed to be decapitated once harvesting began and then reborn at the start of the new growing season therefore the god was not just associated with maize itself, but also with the cycle of rebirth, the cycle of seasons and the associated growth of crops. Several representations of Corn God have appeared throughout the Pre-Columbian civilisations. The earliest representations appear during the Early Classic Maya where he is depicted as a young male with stylized maize on the top of the head. In the Late Classic Period, he is depicted with an elongated human head shaved in sections across the forehead and is the prototype for  Hun Hunahpu  from the  Popul Vu...

                                                                                                                                                                       © -Ankita Gupta Museums are vessels that house the vast historical and cultural treasures of past for future generations to appreciate. With careful documentation and preservation of the artefacts, museums bridge the time gap offering present a glimpse into the lives of the past, the ethnicities and cultures. They are moreover practica...

Bookmark is a tool, made of leather, fabric or paper, used by the readers to keep track of their reading progress. As an avid reader, I too use bookmarks and I like bookmarks so much that I have started to make them on my own. Paper bookmarks made by Yours Truly Bookmarks have a very interesting history that dates back to the early days of bookmaking where these were used by highly skilled monks in their incunabula. These early bookmarks were made of leftover pieces of vellum or leather used to make book cover. Various shapes were noticed like a plain strand, clip-on triangle and a rotating disc. Rotating Disc Bookmark made of Vellum Different types of bookmarks were used on different mediums i.e. if the pages were wet, a blotting or a plain paper was used; if the pages were dry and it was mostly a script, a simple ribbon would appease; and for fine illumination pages, a vellum bookmark was used. The oldest bookmark found is from 1584. It was a fringed silk bookmark that was presented ...

One of the masterpieces of National Museum, New Delhi currently displayed in the Kushana Gallery of National Museum. The Gandhara art of the Peshawar valley is known for some of the most charming and magnificent sculptures in dark grey schist. The present sculpture is typically Gandhara in style- marked by long flowing drapery placed loosely on the body with heavy schematic folds. The right hand, which is largely lost, was in Abhaya mudra, a typical feature of Standing Buddhas. He is holding the hem of the Sanghati in his left hand. With Abhaya mudra he assures his devotees with ultimate salvation. And thus Lord Buddha attained the status as the saviour of humankind. Source: Masterpieces of National Museum #museumstudies #museumwonk #standingbuddha #buddha #buddharelics #gandhara #gandharaschoolofart #gandharastyle #museummarketing #museumlover #museology #museumdisplay #museumdesign #gallerydesign #museumsofindia #nationalmuseumnewdelhi 

Object Name- Mouse Catcher Accession No. CH 134/287 The object is a mouse catcher with holes for the metal grid to trap the mouse. It belongs to Harappan Period and was found in Chanhudaro. The object is made of terracotta and is 16 cm in length. The object is currently displayed in the Harappan Gallery of National Museum, New Delhi. Photo Courtesy- museumsofindia.gov.in

Fatullah Shiraji Engineer and Inventor of Emporer Akbar's Court devised this portable cannon cleaner for cleaning sixteen barrels at a time employing a single Bullock. It is a huge eight-legged installation probably made of iron approximately 8ft. high. The octagonal frame, nearly 20ft. corner to corner is mounted on top of the frame. The central vertical shaft or axle is fitted on two large fixed bearings at the top and the bottom and carry a huge toothed wheel just below the top bearing. On the periphery of the top bearing there are light sockets which face eight others fixed in the corners of the octagonal frame and the brushes are placed between them. The detachable brush rods are composite structures consisting of a central pinion and two brush rods of equal length. Barrels for cleaning could be slid over the brush rods from both sides and the assembly thus made, could be lifted on the octagonal frame in position so that the pinions rest in mesh with the central larg...

Indian Air Force Museum in Palam, New Delhi houses a rich collection of memorabilia of Indian Military Aviation and displays the history of Indian Air Force. The museum comprises of Annex and hanger. The Annex houses portraits, photographs of Indian officers from 2nd World War, wing commanders, air chief generals and other Indian officers associated with Air Force. The museum also showcases gifts and momentoes presented to these officers. Hanger comprises of different types of military aircrafts. Apart from photographs and aircrafts, there is a towering statue of Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon who was awarded Param Vir Chakra for his heroism, supreme gallantry and flying skills . The museum is open on Wednesday-Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM. The entry is free for all.

Smell Assembly is an exhibition that is currently on display at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Saket, New Delhi. It is an artistic research by Ishita Dey and Mohammed Sayeed, curated by Akansha Rastogi. The aim of the exhibition is to know your "mizaaj". Mizaaj is an urdu word that describes your mood or disposition. Therefore asking what is your mizaaj is like asking what is your 'blend'. In order to achieve this, they have put up 5 bottles and one has to sniff all the bottles and choose one. A code is written under the bottle and then one has to follow the instructions. In the final stage it leads you to your mizaaj. There are bottles storing 75 smellable objects that have been collected from 3 sites in Delhi- Majnu ka Tila, fish markets of Chittaranjan Park, ittr shops and spice markets of Purani Dilli. Besides this they have also displayed their research work which is quite informative and impressive. The exhibition is ...

According to the ICOM Statutes adopted by the 22nd General Assembly in Vienna, Austria on 24th August, 2007: "A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment" Earlier, museums focused only on displaying the objects along with its labels which did not engage the visitors much. Hence the monotonous display of the objects gave museums the tag 'boring'. Currently the trends in museums are changing and the museums are becoming more visitor friendly. The museums are becoming more engaging and are trying to break the myth that 'Museums are boring or are for only history/art student'. Trends in Museums- Museums have widened the horizon of their reach through temporary exhibitions, travelling exhibitions, outre...

Deccan College Archaeology Museum (DCAM) was started for the Masters and PhD students of Deccan College which exhibited the artefacts collected by Prof. H.D. Sankalia and Research Scholars from 1939 onwards. The artefacts were first kept for display in the main administrative building in the year 1940 but since Deccan College took part in many excavations and collected huge amount of cultural material, a new building was constructed in 1962 and the first floor was completely dedicated to museum displaying objects of human past. Aims & Objectives of Deccan College Archaeology Museum- The main aim of Deccan College museum is educational. It displays selective cultural remains of the human past and is aimed to provide information on Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology to students, teachers as well as general public. To introduce archaeology to general public and school teachers in rural and urban areas, through outreach programmes i.e. exhibiti...

DAG in collaboration with ASI set up Drishyakala Art Museum (Fig: 1.1) at the historic Red Fort’s Barrack No. 4 that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Fig: 1.1 Drishyakala Art Museum It is a three-floor exhibition space that houses 400 artworks spread over 25,000 square ft. by India’s leading artists from the DAG collection. On the ground floor is Navratna: India’s National Treasure Artists that showcases the works of India’s nine National Treasure Artists- Raja Ravi Varma, Amrita Sher-Gil, Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Sailoz Mookherjea, Jamini Roy and Nicholas Roerich. (Fig: 1.2) Fig: 1.2 Navratna Gallery   On the first floor,  Popular Prints & the Freedom Struggle,  curated by Paula Sengupta, showcases how printmaking, or the art of the printed picture, became a tool to illustrate a new brand of nationalist literature and propaganda for India’s freedom movement. ...

During my internship at Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur in 2018 I got an opportunity to assist Mummy Specialist Rania Ahmad who had come from Egypt to examine the Egyptian Mummy Tutu displayed in the Egyptian Gallery of Albert Hall. It was a thrilling experience as I got to be so close to the Egyptian Mummy. For the first time in my life I had seen the Egyptian Mummy without any box covering it. . I felt so elated and excited to witness the examination process and assist Rania Ahmad in taking measurements of the Mummy. Details of the Mummy: ·          Egyptian Mummy of Tutu, priestess of God Chem of Ptolemaic epoch ·          Found at Akhmin, Ancient Panopolis ·          2340 years old ·          Brought to Jaipur 131 years ago in 1887 by Sawai Ishwar Singh from Cairo, and since 1890 it is kept at Albert Hall Museum ...

Dancing Girl Fig: 1.1 Dancing Girl Place of Origin: Mohenjodaro Material: Bronze Dimension: 10.5 x 5 x 2.5 cm Accession No.: 5721/195 This is one of the rarest artifacts from around the world and is a unique blend of antiqueness and art indexing the lifestyle, taste and cultural excellence of people in such remote past as about five millenniums from now. This tiny bronze-cast statue is called ‘Dancing girl’ (Fig:1.1). It was recovered in excavation from ‘HR area’ of Mohenjodaro. The statue is of a thin young woman standing with her right hand on the back  of her hip and the left hand resting on her left thigh.  Her features are prominent with large eyes, bunched curly hair and flat nose. The adornment of her left arm is widely different from the right. Her arms are unnaturally long, has a high neck, subdued belly, moderately sized breasts and sensuously modelled waist-part along vagina, her anatomy. She is shown wearing a necklace with four ‘phalis...