27th October is marked as World Day for Audiovisual Heritage by the General Conference of UNESCO in 2005. It was devised to sensitize the need to conserve and safeguard valuable audiovisual resources for future generations. It also highlights the urgency to preserve this heritage while making it accessible to the public.
This year the theme of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is ‘Your Window to the World.’
India has many museums working in this regard. One can visit them and be a part of the bygone eras by listening to audiovisual representations of history and heritage. Celebrate World Day for Audiovisual Heritage by visiting these five museums in India.
Jaisalmer War Museum
To honor the sacrifices and contributions of Indian war heroes and pay homage to their valor, the Jaisalmer War Museum came into existence. It is located 10 km from Jaisalmer on the Jaisalmer-Jodhpur Highway near the Military Station.
This unique museum has two expansive information exhibit halls, an audiovisual room, war trophies, vintage equipment, tanks, and military vehicles. Its immersive ‘Light and Sound Show’ using advanced audiovisual technology invokes patriotism by listening to the chronicles of bravery, pride, and magnificent heritage of the Indian Armed Forces. One must experience its audiovisual theatre that screens movies on the historic Battle of Laungewala.
NFAI
Located in Pune, the National Film Archive of India, or NFAI, is one of the country’s most extensive film preservation and conservation repositories. It has several vaults of international standard storing lakhs of film reels.
In 1983, it started its Oral History Project, recording the interviews only on audio cassettes. In 2008, by roping in technology, it converted this project into the Audio-Visual History Project. On the 151st birth anniversary of Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian Cinema, it published a treasure of audio recordings of about 8,000 minutes of interviews of veteran film artists on its website, and it is open to the public.
The Partition Museum
This unique museum is in Amritsar and gives the visitors a goosebumps experience through its AV collection. It has thousands of oral stories, to be precise, histories of the generation who lived through the partition of the country.
The Partition Museum also has archival footage of the trains, kafilas, and camps during the separation. Its oldest AV material is footage from the freedom struggle around 1920, covering the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements.
National Gandhi Museum
National Gandhi Museum, or NGM, is in the national capital. It is one of the fascinating museums in the country, which often gives the visitor unexpected and surprising experiences.
For example, if you feel that Gandhi Ji’s visit to Lancashire in 1931 upset the textile mill workers, you would be shocked to know the truth. The Indian National Congress called for boycotting British goods leading to the shut down of textile mills. But there is a video clip showing how the Father of the Nation was applauded and welcomed by the textile mill workers. Besides this, NGM possesses 100 hours of recordings associated with Gandhi. One can find the 1941’s documentary by AK Chettiar – Mahatma Gandhi – 20th Century Prophet.
Also, read: AudioCompass: Explore India Through Personal Audio Tours
National Gallery of Modern Art
Also known as NGMA, Delhi has been a favorite place among patrons. In May this year, it launched a first-of-its-kind audio-visual guide app letting the museum viewers listen to tales and anecdotes on their smartphones of diverse valued Indian Modern artworks exhibited at the museum from anywhere.
As a history and heritage and art enthusiast, you may download the app and browse the content following the mentioned numbers. The NGMA app is free for the users and gives a virtual tour of the museum, consolidating a great blend of AV content such as photographs, videos, and audio. An elaborate textual representation in a storytelling mode narrates the idea behind the artwork and the artist’s techniques to create it, along with anecdotes about their life.
If you have not been to any of these museums yet, it’s time you make your itinerary. What say?