Indian Museum collection going online with Google
KOLKATA: Beginning with its prized collection of Buddhist art , including the famous Gandhara sculptures, the Indian Museum is now putting all of its galleries for 360-degree panoramic viewing for anyone to see online.
As
part of a tie-up with the Google Cultural Institute, which allows art lovers to
explore artifacts from all over the world on its website, the Indian Museum is
launching an e- version of its exquisite exhibition titled Indian Buddhist Art
on Wednesday.
Among
the important highlights in the exhibit include a sculpture of the head of
Buddha from fifth century in Sarnath that is featured even in school books.
“This
is the first virtual exhibition we are organising after which all our galleries
will gradually be available on the Google Cultural Institute website,” museum
director Jayanta Sengupta told PTI.
Three
galleries are ready for 360-degree panoramic viewing on the internet.
“This
allows anyone to have a walk through the gallery...You can scroll to see even
the ceiling and the floor,” he said.
The
biggest repository of Indian antiquity, some of the museum’s prized possessions
include an Egyptian mummy, Buddhist stupa from Bharhut, Buddha’s ashes, Ashoka
pillar, fossils of pre-historic animals and a collection of meteorites.
For
some of such cultural and historical treasures, the museum is also planning to
have gigapixel images which will allow magnification upto a thousand times.
“If
it’s a painting then you can see all intricate details like even the brush
strokes. Seeing a gigapixel image is like putting the object under microscope,”
Sengupta said.
Another
advantage of having a virtual tour of the museum is that the website will have
more information about the artifact on display since there is no space
restriction in the virtual world.
The
musuem director rejects suggestions that once all galleries are online the
number of visitors at their campus will decrease. “Internationally this has
been the case. After people see it online they are more motivated to see the
real thing and so they walk into the museum,” he said.
Source | Hindustan Times | 20 June 2016
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