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A state-of-the-art archaeological museum that will offer visitors an experiential feel using immersive technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality is coming up in the heritage city of Vadnagar in Gujarat, top government sources said on Tuesday.
A three-storey building will house the thematic museum being built near an archaeological site, showcasing the development of the town through the lens of the “seven cultural periods” spanning 2,500 years, along with a ‘first-hand experience” of a walkway through the excavated site, they said.
About 100 kilometres from Ahmedabad, Vadnagar in Mehsana district of Gujarat is a historic town with a population of approximately 28,000.
In December 2022, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials had said Vadnagar town and the iconic Sun Temple at Modhera in Gujarat, along with rock-cut relief sculptures of Unakoti in Tripura, were added to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The Union Ministry of Culture through the government of Gujarat is developing the state-of-the-art “archaeological experiential museum” in Vadnagar to showcase the development of the the ancient town through the lens of the seven cultural periods, spanning 2,500 years, along with a first-hand experience of a walkway through the excavated site, the sources said.
The ministry is funding the project and an independent contractor selected by the ministry is executing it, while the state government is overseeing the project, a source said. First archaeological excavation was undertaken in Vadnagar in 1953-54.
The directorate of archaeology of Gujarat conducted excavations across multiple locations from 2005-06 to 2012-13, which “established a cultural sequence across 2,500 years”.
In 2008, excavations led to the “major findings of an ancient Buddhist monastery and Votive stupas, established around the 1st century AD and continued till 7th century AD,” the government sources said. Further, the ASI took over the excavations in 2014 that led to significant findings about Vadnagar in terms of its earliest defence structures, sustainable water management practices (linking artificial lakes), shell bangle manufacturing industry and external maritime trade links.
Excavation and exploration at Taranga (near Vadnagar) had revealed the largest Buddhist settlement of late historical period, in western part of India, they said. The museum is being set up to present the narrative of uninterrupted history of human settlement at Vadnagar and to recreate history and display significant objects of antiquity with over 40,000 artifacts acquired during excavations, a source said.
The main museum building is coming up over an area of 13,525 sq m. Immersive technology such as AR/VR (augmented reality/virtual reality), 3D displays, installations, replicas and dioramas will be used in the museum.
Also, engaging activities such as discovery room, kiosks, audio guides, workshops etc will be there, the source said, adding, the groundbreaking ceremony for the project had taken place around November-December in 2022.
In December 2022, Union Minister of Culture G Kishan Reddy, in a written reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha, had said an Archaeological Experiential Museum building at Vadnagar, Gujarat is being established with a project cost of Rs 212.1 crore.
The top government sources also said that Vadnagar International Conference was organised from May 18-20 in 2022 aimed at promoting the archaeological heritage and culture of the historic town, and in continuation to this initiative, the government of Gujarat had undertaken a unique step to further the research being undertaken on Vadnagar by bringing national (also from various premier academic institutions in the country) and international researchers to work on various research proposals.
A study on art and architectural heritage in Vadnagar that systematically chronicles the development of the city, the region and its connections with the world is currently underway at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, while reconstructing population history of Vadnagar using ancient DNA and human population genomics is going on at Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, among other research projects at various other institutions, they said.
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