THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After years of renovated work and wasting several crores of rupees at the Napier Museum at Thiruvananthapuram, the Museum & Zoo authorities have decided to prepare a road map for its conservation, which dates back to 1880.
This decision was taken on the concluding day of the four-day long international seminar which was attended by top experts like John Scott, president New York Conservation Centre, Gabriela Krist, Institute of Conservation University of Applied Arts, Vienna and B.V.Khabade, director National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Culture Property.
Ms. Krist told reporters here that the Napier Museum had a proper inventory and the condition of the objects was in good condition. The museum collection has more than 550 objects, which include textiles, stones from the first century, bronze items dating to the 8th century, and wooden objects from the 12th century and more than 5000 coins.
“Overall the materials are in good condition and now when the report is prepared we would lay emphasis on maintaining humidity inside the museum and also on the concept of safe storage”, said Krist.
Scot informed that a national level tender would be quoted and the report they prepared would recommend that scientific process of restoration of the building be adopted.
The background to the botched up job was that the Government had given Rs 1.75 crore in 2009 to the archeology department for the Napier Museum building restoration.
It was during former culture minister M. A. Baby’s tenure that the money was allocated on the grounds that the Archeology Department was the expert in the field on building restoration.
“In a few months, the monsoon rains began and the ceiling of the Museum started leaking. It reflected the substandard work done by the archeology department”, said an official.
Again, Rs 1.5 crore was granted to the Kerala Museum of History and Heritage under the Tourism department for the refurbishment of the museum.
