Seminar class of week 8 began with the discussion about our visit to the DR.BHAU DAJI LAD MUSEUM.
We had discussions in class about what we had seen in the visit? what interested us a lot? what was the museum all about? we categorized the things we saw according to aspects of the museum and what it was telling about.
Few categories we listed down as a class were:
The models of humans in different apparels depicting the occupations and culture of that community.
The swords, ships, shields, guns depicting the military aspect of early Bombay.
The interior of the museum depicting the architectural style of Bombay.
The maps and topography sheets explaining the geographical locations of Bombay.
The sea routes and models of vehicles denoting the transportation system of that time.
Class activity: We were then told pick any city, country which we have visited apart from the city or place we originally belong to and list down things according to the categories given, which were
Personal things you have seen or felt about the place.
Cliché things about that place.
Unique things about that place.
The place I chose was Singapore:
Personal things:
– Singapore is personal to me because its my birthplace, I was born and bought up there until the age of 6.
-I learnt Mandarin, Chinese languages there.
– I also love the Asian cuisine, that is Thai and Chinese food.
Cliché things:
-Singapore is known is known as one of the worlds Greeniest city’s
-Singapore’s national anthem is in micro-text on the back of their $1000 note.
Unique things:
-Merlion statue and its park is known as the mascot of Singapore.
The universal studios and theme park.
All about Bhau Daji Lad museum:
As soon as our entire class gathered, our visit started with a very informative and interesting presentation about the museum, its revamp, its history, facts about Bombay to Mumbai, and information about Mumbai city as a whole.
Things I noted from the that presentation:
- Dr Bhau Daji lad museum was known as Victoria albert museum.
- It was then called Dr Bhau Daji lad museum in 1872
- Its known as on of the oldest and ancient museum
- The museum was closed down and was reopened in 2008, with complete restoration and revamping.
- The restoration credits majorly go to Dr Bhau daji lad and the municipal corporation, the entrepreneurs and the dynamic key people working for the same.
- Flaws of the old version of the museum were the poor lighting system, unused materials spread all over, poor interior, poor conditions of the maps, artifacts and display materials.
- Things kept in mind while restoring the museum were: the effective lighting system, change of the interiors without losing its previous essence, restoring maps and graphs and topography’s by adding preservative layers.
- The museum is known as a glorious example of cultural as well as public private relationship because of it make and people counted in its making.
- The museum was awarded with 2005 UNESCO award of excellence in all of Asia pacific.
- It gave us information about Bombay known for its 7 islands which are- Colaba, little Colaba, Worli, Masga, Parel, Mahim, Bandra.
- Bombay got its name from Bombaiyam- bombartia- which means a good bay.
- The museum depicted old Bombay , its maps, its topography, its history, it depicted the communities of people, and their various culture and traditions, its craft work, its rich heritage and artifacts ,the various occupation followed at that time , the fabric, the military weapons, and also the transport routes.
I enjoyed the visit majorly because I have a keen interest towards, history, heritage, art , culture,ancients and antiques.
I loved the interiors, the celling , the finesse work done on the pillars, stairs , the roof.
I have a unique love for ships , boats and the ship models in the museum fascinated me a lot.
I loved the small yet unique artifacts such as the metal paper weight in particular.
All in all it was a great as well as an informative experience.
Sanjana blogs 