The Chemical Conservation and Research Laboratory of the Government Museums is the oldest State Government Museum Laboratory in this country. Among the over one thousand museums of this country, only around 40 museums have conservation laboratories attached to them. The chemical conservation and Research Laboratory of this museum was established in 1930. Dr. S. Paramasivan was the first Curator of the Laboratory. This Laboratory was coopted in to help the Archaeological Survey of India in helping the conservation of wall paintings in Sittannavasal, Thanjavur etc. Many of the research articles of Dr. S. Paramasivan were published in National and International journals. Dr. S. Paramasivan's contribution to this field was well known to this world. He helped the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research for the Finger Printing of Bronzes project in collaboration with the Department of Museums in the 1970s. His vision has now partially materialized.
Dr. V. Jeyaraj, Curator, Chemical Conservation and Research Laboratory of the Government Museum gave a proposal to start a Conservation Gallery in the museum to educate the visiting public on conservation of cultural property thereby they can contribute in preserving art and cultural objects in the museum as well as elsewhere by not damaging them. The Government sanctioned the setting up of the Gallery in 1997 and was open to the public by the then Secretary to Government, Mr. S. Ramakrishnan, I.A.S.
As one of the measures to modernize the Galleries in the museum for the 151st year celebrations of the museum, the Bronze Gallery building was taken up and all galleries situated in the building were given an opportunity for refurbishment. The Conservation Gallery gives information to the visiting public on how to safeguard cultural heritage through photographs and materials. Dr. Jeyaraj has contributed to the field of Conservation of Cultural Heritage through his extension programmes, outreach teaching, training programmes. I hope that this handy manual for Conservation Gallery will help those interested to learn about the exhibits in the gallery and also enlighten them on conservation of cultural heritage in general.
The concept of Conservation Gallery is new to India. Conservation of antiquities is very important as far as the preservation of artistic and cultural heritage is concerned. As such the Chemical Conservation of metallic antiquities took shape in this Laboratory in 1930 itself. In the beginning this Laboratory was catering to the conservation needs of this museum only. Slowly the Archaeological Survey of India, in examining the wall paintings in Thanjavur, Sittannavasal etc., utilised this Laboratory, during the tenure of Dr. S. Paramasivan, who was a doyen in the field of conservation of cultural heritage. Later, the department of museums started establishing the district museums in the district headquarters. When the district museums were established, it was felt that the conservation aspect could also be included in the display in the district museums. Therefore, from 1996 onwards, particulars with respect to conservation of museum antiquities were included in the display in the district museums. Subsequently, it was also decided to start a Conservation Gallery in the Chennai Museum also. It was organised with the existing show cases. This gallery was inaugurated by Mr. K. Dheenadayalan, IAS, then Commissioner of Museums in the rear room of the Bronze Gallery in the ground floor. Then during 1998, the refurbished Conservation Gallery was inaugurated by Mr. S. Ramakrishnan, I.A.S., Secretary, Tamil Development-Culture and Charitable Endowments Department in the presence of Dr. R. Kannan, L.A.S., Commissioner of Museums. Now it is being modernised with vinyl printed display panels and aluminium-glass show cases. This Conservation Gallery is now shifted to the First Floor of the Bronze Gallery at the rear side. This gallery will be open to public from 19th June 2003, when His Excellency, The President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam inagurates various activities of the museum in the presence of His Excellency the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Mr. P.S. Ramamohan Rao and Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. J Jayalalithaa. This gallery tries to educate the visiting public with the various aspects of conservation and the role of the public in conserving the cultural heritage. This is the first manual in the history of Conservation in India and it will be an eye opener to other museums to have conservation galleries, enabling the visitors to help in the preservation of cultural heritage. This manual will be useful to those who visit the museum as well as students who learn museology and conservation in particular.
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