Almost six months after it was shut down following the pandemic lockdown, the landmark state-of-the-art Transport Heritage Museum in India is set to reopen on the country’s 74th Independence Day, and once again welcome visitors.
Rated as one of the best transports museums in the world and arguably the biggest in Asia, the Heritage Museum located at Manesar in Haryana, around 50-km from the Indian capital New Delhi had been closed down due to the lockdown announced by the government on February 24.
The museum will now reopen with all safety protocols in place and standard operating procedures for visitors and staff. Even before the pandemic, the museum was renowned for its very high standard of hygiene and cleanliness that ensured the safety of visitors and protected the valuable artefacts.
Spread across a sprawling 9,300 sqm of built-up area and constructed on a tiered architectural plan, the maintaining of social distancing and other health safety norms is not a problem for the museum, said its Managing Trustee, Tarun Thakral.
The museum is the second biggest one-man collection in India after the famous Salar Jung Museum of Hyderabad and both have made an international impact. From the prehistoric padukas to steam engines, from elephant howdahs to palanquins, from bullock carts to ships, from automobiles to aeroplane, the range of exhibits at the museum is mind boggling.
Collecting toy engines, which started as a childhood hobby of Mr. Thakral, later became his passion and eventually resulted in the museum seven years ago. The museum has since then attracted millions of local and international visitors.
Recipient of several national and international awards, the museum also houses the only Indian flag that went up to the moon in the Apollo mission. Its steam engines are functional and one can still hear the loud sounds emanating from the engines that remind anyone who has traveled on these locomotives of a bygone era.
Some of the latest editions to the museum include a tram, which was once the major mode of transport in several Indian metropolises from the 1880s up to the early 1960s. Mr. Thakral is confident that the museum will slowly once again begin picking up visitors despite the threat from COVID-19 infection. “Yes, the past six months had been bad for us, not only financially but also due to the shortage of professional staff to manage and preserve the artifacts. But that dark period is hopefully behind us, and we look forward to offering our visitors an even greater experience at the museum,” said Mr. Thakral.
S A H Rizvi
The Times Kuwait
Bureau Chief
New Delhi
