Heritage in tatters as State Museum wallows in neglect

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Archaeology Museum is a shameful example of how a heritage building is neglected with damaged artifacts and no adequate staff to maintain. Heritage activists urged the State government to safeguard the structure before it fades away.

The activists are trepidant that in the coming years slowly the museum artifacts—as it is the house of the 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy of Princess Naishu;it has a wonderful collection of coins—may slowly fall apart, if it is not been restored and renovated by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the State government.

History of the museum

Archaeologist Henry Cousens first explored the site at the beginning of the 19th century and around 1940 the mound was excavated under the supervision of the Nizam of Hyderabad. The excavated items were placed in a museum built on the ancient site.

In 1952 the museum’s contents were moved to the current building, under the administrative control of ASI in 1930 Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan, who wanted to preserve the Hyderabad State’s heritage, named the museum as Hyderabad Museum. It was named as Andhra Pradesh State Archaeology Museum in 1960.

In 2008, a sword belonging to the Nizam and the artifacts were stolen from the museum. The museum was renamed by the ex-Chief of Minister of Andhra Pradesh the Late Dr. Y S Rajashekara Reddy Telangana State Archaeological Museum after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. It has the largest collection of coins in the world along with artifacts dating right back to the sixth century to the 19th century, representing the Mughal, Bahamani, Tughlaq eras and more. There is a huge gallery on Buddha dating back to the last century. The museum has a wide variety of archaeological artifacts from the Nizam and Kakatiya dynasties; it had nearly 300,000 coin collections, but now lie in a locker. Due to negligence of the government, the state of the museum is deteriorating day by day.

The museum artifacts should be preserved properly so that coming generations can know about our ancient artifacts, but surprisingly the museum is being neglected. The 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy of Princess Naishu is lying in a dusty case. When the staff is paid and also the government gets aid to maintain the museum why it is lying in neglected conditions; why the government is not concentrating on preserving the cultural history and heritage,” asked Mohammed Abid Ali, environmentalist and social activist.

‘Also, hardly there are any visitors to the museum; I fear that in the coming days, people will forget whether the Telangana State Archaeology Museum ever existed, he added.

Mohammed Haseeb Ahmed, social activist, said it is just called a self-maintaining museum; the government never bothered to restore the museum. Hardly any artifacts are on display; only the Nizam and Kakatiya dynasties items are on display, as the museum is meant for educating people about our ancient history but hardly any activities take place. We have only six Mummyies in India; we have one among them in this museum, but it is lying in very pathetic conditions. It will be better if the government restores the museum as soon as possible.”

A reality check by The Hans India indicated that the complete structure is slowly getting blackened.Also a few walls are damaged. Eyewitnesses fear it might collapse anytime.Also a few broken stone sculptures were found lying around without care along with large bronze cannons which are devoid of wheel carriers. Also, there is hardly any staff to maintain the museum.