Delhi To Lose Three Iconic Buildings For Central Vista Project: All You Need To Know

As a part of the centre's Central Vista project, the national capital's three iconic buildings- the National Museum, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, the National Archives Annexe are to be demolished.

The other buildings marked for demolition are Shastri Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, Vigyan Bhavan, Vice President's Residence, Jawahar Bhavan, Nirman Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan, Raksha Bhavan, reported NDTV.

The Central Vista project worth ₹ 20,000 crores envisages a new parliament building and residences for the Prime Minister and the Vice President. The total area to be demolished is 4,58,820 square metres.

National Museum

The National Museum houses hundreds of rare idols, original sculptures, priceless coins, paintings and jewellery that date back to history. These include the famous dancing girl of Harappa, relics of Buddha, Ganjifa cards, Nataraja in Chola Bronze, wood carved doors and Tanjore paintings. All these objects are going to be shifted to North or South Block, after the demolition.

The Museum was inaugurated on August 15, 1949, in the Rashtrapati Bhawan by Shri R.C. Rajagopalachari, the Governor-General of India. The foundation of the present building was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, on May 12, 1955. It presently holds over 2,00,000 objects of diverse nature, both Indian as well as foreign, and its holdings cover a time span of more than five thousand years of Indian cultural heritage.

The National Museum was initially looked after by the Director-General of Archaeology until 1957, when the Ministry of Education, Government of India, declared it a separate institution and placed it under its own direct control. At present, the National Museum is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

National archives Annexe

While the main building of the National Archives will remain intact, the annexe building will be demolished and a new building will be constructed.

Several archival records are kept here which include 45 lakh files, 25,000 rare manuscripts, more than 1 lakh maps and 1.3 lakh Mughal documents.

The building was completed in 1926 and is the premiere records office in the country, set up after the capital of British India was shifted from Calcutta to New Delhi. It comprises two blocks; the administrative building which is also called the main building, and the stack area. Elements in the elevation of the building were based on Palladian architecture style which was predominant in Europe at that time. In 1957-1967 the Annexe building was constructed as an expansion to the main building.

Presently, architectural documentation of the building has been completed and the condition mapping is underway.

Indira Gandhi National Centre

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts has a collection of heritage pieces, manuscripts and an impressive library. All of this will be temporarily shifted to the Janpath Hotel, which has been renovated for this purpose.

It was established in the memory of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and is visualised as a centre encompassing the study and experience of all the arts – each form with its own integrity, yet within a dimension of mutual interdependence, interrelated with nature, social structure and cosmology.

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