Varanasi to get heritage museum soon

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Dec 18 A grand heritage museum will soon come up in Varanasi next year at a cost of Rs 100 crore.

This will be in addition to several museums that already exist in the city, officials said.

Priti Srivastava, deputy director, UP tourism, said, "The heritage museum will not only give a chance to the people to peep into the history of Kashi but also showcase its rich tradition and culture."

She said, "If all goes well, the Rs 100 crore grand heritage museum would be ready by 2023. It would highlight Kashi's rich traditions and culture and educate people about its history and glorious past."

The tourism department is looking for a suitable antique mansion in Varanasi, where the heritage museum would come up.

"It would showcase the relics, architecture, heritage, documents, important facts of civilisations, history of ancient temples and others. It would be an ultramodern museum that would be designed to give a virtual experience to the visitors and will have an audio visual section for better experience to the visitors," officials said.

Varanasi has several museums, including the Bharat Kala Bhawan at Ramnagar Fort Museum, another situated inside Ramnagar Fort on the banks of river Ganges that highlights artifacts from the period of Maharajas, Hastkala Sankul, a crafts museum that displays the history of Kashi's handicrafts,Virtual Experiential Museum, another museum located in Man Mahal is a unique one, exhibiting things in a new digital method.

Then there is Sarnath Museum, located in Sarnath that showcases more than 6,000 antiquities ranging from third century BC to twelfth century AD. There is also a Kashi Dham Museum, another source of cultural knowledge and a Lal Bahadur Shastri Family Home Museum, the home of former Prime Minister and now transformed into a museum.