Partition museum to open in Amritsar, 70 years after the painful event

In the 70 years since India and Pakistan were created from the former British Empire, there has never been a venue focused on the stories and memorabilia of those who survived that chaotic and bloody chapter in history until now. A new museum on the Partition of the Indian subcontinent opens this week, as the two South Asian giants mark seven decades as independent nations.

The exhibitions are housed in the red-brick Town Hall building in the north Indian border city of Amritsar. They include photographs, newspaper clippings and donated personal items meant to tell the story of how the region’s struggle for freedom from colonial rule turned into one of its most violent episodes.

In this photo, a worker looks on from atop a wall with a banner for the Partition Museum in Amritsar, 32km from the border with Pakistan. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)

A worker cleans a door in one of the 14 galleries of the Partition Museum. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)

A worker sorts through photographs, newspaper clippings, and other material that will cover the walls at the Partition Museum. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)

Workers stand around a giant saw installation that is cutting through a brick wall at the museum. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)

In this July 22, 2017, photograph, CEO of India's new partition museum Mallika Ahluwalia looks at a steel trunk, black, which was among items donated by the relative of a person who had migrated to India during partition in 1947, in New Delhi, India. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A pocket watch of Indian man Pandit Devi Dass, who was killed in mob violence in Pakistan which was later donated by his son to the Partition Museum, in New Delhi, India. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

An old newspaper clipping from the Times of India before the division of British India, hangs on the wall of the museum. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)