 A delightful walk through an era gone by…
Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, formerly known as the Victoria and Albert Museum is the oldest museum of Mumbai. It is located in the beautiful surroundings of the Rani Jijamata Udyan, the erstwhile Victoria Gardens that is laid out in the heart of the city. It has the elaborate Mumbai Zoo as its next door neighbour.
The museum was the brain child of Dr. Buist, a chronic collector, who sold the concept on the basis of the ongoing trend of the British colonies to collect artifacts of their colonies and ship them to the burgeoning breed of museums and international exhibitions in Europe.
Though the foundation of the museum was laid in 1872, the process of collecting began much earlier in 1855. This is also the year when a fund of Rs. 6000 was created and the curator was authorised to draw Rs. 86 per month to cover ordinary contingencies. The growth in the size of collection continued with additional grants of Rs. 2000 in December 1856 and in March 1857.
The museum was initially housed in the three mess rooms of the Town Barracks since the size of the collection was still small. The curators continued to send duplicates of the specimens to Paris as they were instructed. Mr. Lumsden, who played a major role in the development of the museum, visualised it to be spacious and located within the city limits. He also went on to emphasise that the museum should have a zoological collection along with a botanical garden. Due to the upheaval caused by the ‘Great Mutiny’, as the British chose to call it, the barracks had to be evacuated. In the process, several rare possessions of the museum were lost or destroyed. The museum was also housed in the Town Hall for some time.
The museum was finally shifted to its current location in Rani Jijamata Udyan in a purpose built 19th-century Palladian Villa. The architecture of the villa is the revival form of the style of Italian architect Andrea Palladio, a famous architect of the 16th century who is known for the numerous villas that he designed in his lifetime.
The quaint looking single storied building stands amidst delightful, extensive formal gardens. Elaborate Italian Renaissance-style gateway and the equestrian statue of Edward VII adorn the maintained gardens. Slender pillars, wrought-iron railings, elegant arches, a high painted ceiling – all add to creating the right ambience for taking the journey through history. Restoration of the building in 2005 not only helped to removed signs of gradual decay and insensitive handling but also earned the museum the UNESCO 2005 Asia-Pacific heritage award for Culture Heritage Conservation.
The museum is now houses over 6000 precious and hard to find artifacts including sculptures, pottery, coins, ivory work, paintings from different parts of the country. The social and cultural history of the subcontinent is quite well displayed in the museum. One can also see over 4000 reference books and manuscripts, some of which are quite rare.
The name of Victoria and Albert Museum changed to the current Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in 1975 as a mark of respect to Ramkrishna Vitthal Lad, popularly known as Bhau Daji Lad. Dr. Bhau Daji Lad, along with some of his like-minded colleagues conceived the idea of erecting a new building for housing the collection, and also naming it after the Queen Empress of India.
The museum offers a rare treat to the thousands of tourists and visitors who visit the premises and take a walk through over a century and a half of history of India under the influence of the Victorian rule.
Ruchika Batra
Photo courtesty: www.bdlmuseum.org/
Address:
Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, 91A, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Road, Ranibag, Byculla, Mumbai – 400 027
After an interim period lasting six years, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum opened to the public in January 4, 2008.
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