Government Museum, Egmore – History
In August 1778, the governor of Madras granted 43 acres
for an estate to a civil servant, who, subsequently in 1793, assigned the
grounds to a committee of 24 which then regulated the public amusements in the
city. In 1821, the committee sold the main house and central garden space to E.
S. Moorat, an Armenian merchant who, in turn, sold it back to the government in
1830. The government first used the buildings and the grounds as the
collector's "Cutcherry" and later for the "Central
Museum." The museum was originally established in a building on
College Road in Nungambakkam in the year 1851 and was
shifted to the present site in 1854.
Many additions to the original building were constructed
between 1864 and 1890. The core of the old museum building includes the only
surviving remnants of the Pantheon, identified from the broad steps leading
into it when viewed from the north. Amongst the additions is the Connemara Public Library,
built with stained glass windows, ornate woodwork and elaborate stucco
decorations, formally opened in 1896 and named after its progenitor. The
building was built by Namberumal Chetty and was designed by Henry Irwin, with
the interiors resembling those of Bank of Madras (SBI).
The design included a huge reading room with a wooden
ceiling between two curved rows of stained glass, supported by ornate pillars
and arches embellished with sculpted acanthus leaves. It was supplemented with teakwood furniture,
marbled floor, and decorative windows. All of these were restored in 2004–2007.
The building now houses the Old Collection (pre-1930), which is used for
reference purpose only. Both the museum and the library benefited greatly from
the effects of the Madras Literary Society, the Oriental Manuscripts Library
and the Records Office. The museum houses a 19th century theatre,
with the "pit" meant for those who can afford more and seating for
the rest of the audience in tiered-seats arranged in a semi-circle around the
pit.
Restoration to mark the 150th anniversary of the
museum replaced 25 fans with air-conditioning. The museum's collections had its
origin from a gift of a collection of 1,100 geological specimens by the Madras
Literary Society to the Government in 1851. The museum, the first
government-sponsored one in the country, opened the same year on the first
floor of the College of Fort
St. George, adjacent to the Literary Society in Nungambakkam, with
an exhibit of nearly 20,000 freely gifted specimens ranging from rocks to
books. These gifts were in response to a public invitation that did not have a
cut-off date.
When the mounting collection of geological specimens
threatened the stability of this first floor, the museum's first
officer-in-charge, Surgeon Edward Balfour, who was then president of the
Literary Society and serving the museum in an honorary capacity, suggested
moving to a new building, which was materialized in 1854 with the move to the
Pantheon. A library and a reading room were provided for the public in 1859. In
1864, an upper storey was added to the Pantheon in sympathetic style, giving
the museum more elbow room. The library got a new block, now known as the
centenary exhibition hall of the museum after restoration, in the northwest
corner of the Pantheon in 1876, with a lecture hall. By 1896, there had been
built new buildings for the museum (where the anthropological and arms
galleries are presently located), the Connemara Library and the museum theatre.
The museum grounds also housed the first zoo of Madras
in 1855, which was also established by Balfour. A year later, it had over 300
animals, including mammals, birds and reptiles. The zoo was later made a
separate institution and was shifted to the People's Park in 1863 where it
remained, not growing very much, till it was moved to its present location at
Vandalur in 1985. The Museum celebrated its Centenary on November 27, 1951 AD
which was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. A new building for the Birds
Gallery was also opened in 1963 AD. A separate building for Contemporary Art
was opened in January 25, 1984 AD and a new Children’s Museum building was
opened in April 1988 AD. An official website for the museum was launched on 25
October 2001 after the government sanctioned Rs 0.5 million in 2000–2001.