AMU Takes Part in the International Museum Expo
Aligarh : The Archaeological Section of the Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) participated in a three-day International Museum Expo-2023 held on May 18-20, 2023, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, under the aegis of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Hon’ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi inaugurated the museum gallery, with Mr. G. Krishna Reddy, Minister of Culture, Govt. of India
The antiquities displayed at Musa Dakri booth no. 25 allotted to the Archaeological Section of AMU consisted of some of the archaeological artefacts and relics discovered during various excavations specially from Atranjikheda, (Etah district) Lal Qila (district Bulandshahr), the two well-known protohistoric sites, undertaken by the late archaeologist and historian R. C. Gaur, Professor at the Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, AMU.
Prominent visitors to the AMU booth included Mr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State at PMO, Govt. of India; Principal Secretary Home; D.G. Archaeological Survey of India; D.G. National Museum, New Delhi; Vice-Chancellor, National Museum Institute, New Delhi; Chairman, ICHR, New Delhi; and Director, Parliament Museum, among others.
Some of the other distinguishing art pieces on display included broken image of a lady, gorge depicting a lady, stone piece depicting a lady, a terracotta lion, a well moulded terracotta lady-head, a beautiful terracotta head, a terracotta incense-burner, terracotta design block for printing of fabric, terracotta ram, terracotta rattle, terracotta birds and terracotta bangle, terracotta boat, terracotta and bone, Brahmi Script seals, Iron Plough Share, Hoe, Sickle, Arrow head, a bone arrow-head retaining part of iron-shaft and copper objects bangle, copper-celt of a copper-hoard having engraved Star-Marks and anthropomorphic figure, a pair of copper frogs, finally setting the question of knowledge of iron by 1200-600 BC.
Organized by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, the objective of the event was to initiate a holistic conversation on museums to enable them to evolve as cultural centres that play a pivotal role in India’s cultural diplomacy in a year where India holds the G20 Presidency, while also keeping the International Council on Museum’s theme ‘museums, sustainability and well-being’.
A grand inauguration by the hon’ble Prime Minister was followed by panel discussions and master classes led by renowned experts, and museum professionals, while experts from other countries made virtual presentations of their invaluable collections and expressed their views on museums and museum related issues. Some of the themes of panel discussions were heritage conservation, conservation of historic monuments and artefacts, preventive conservation of paintings and textiles and other other art pieces.
The AMU team was led by Professor Gulfishan Khan, Chairperson and Coordinator, Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, with the assistance of Dr. Vinod Singh (Assistant Archaeologist), Saleem Ahmad (Senior Curator), Shoeb Ahmad (Senior Photographer) and Afroz Jamal (Assistant Archaeologist).