Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum (

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

: ) is a public

biographical museum A biographical museum is a museum dedicated to displaying items relating to the life of a single person or group of people, and it may also display the items collected by their subjects during their lifetimes. Some biographical museums are locate ...

located on the

Raisina hill Raisina Hill (ISO: ''Rāyasīnā kī Pahāṛī''), often used as a metonym for the seat of the Government of India, is an area of New Delhi, housing India's most important government buildings, including Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official reside ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

dedicated to the

presidents of India The president of India is the head of state of the India, Republic of India and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The president is referred to as the first citizen of India. Although vested with these po ...

from its establishment as a republic to present day. It was established on 25 July 2014 by

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

, who served as the

president of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

at the time. As the first underground museum of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, it was opened for the public on 24 July 2016. The museum contains artifacts and information surrounding the position of the president of India as well as the people who held the office. Aside from the presidents, it also displays information about the prime ministers of India, the establishment of New Delhi during the

colonial rule Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an imperialist project, colonialism can also take ...

Delhi Durbar The Delhi Durbar ( lit. "Court of Delhi") was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by Britain at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was he ...

, the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

and drafting of the

Indian constitution The Constitution of India is the supreme legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and ...

. The museum uses tools like virtual and

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

, interactive digital cascading tables, video walls, three-dimensional

stereoscopic Stereoscopy, also called stereoscopics or stereo imaging, is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

projections, holographic projections, and sound-light-video synchronized stage settings to display information.

History

Phase-I

On 25 July 2014, upon completing two years of his tenure,

Indian president The president of India (ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu is the ...

inaugurated a museum with fiber glass statues of all the former presidents in the

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrapati Bhavana''; ; formerly Viceroy's House (1931–1947) and Government House (1947–1950)) is the official residence of the President of the Republic of India at the western end of Rajpath, Rai ...

. Built at a cost of , it was inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi. Apart from the inauguration of the museum, the completion of the second year of his presidency was also celebrated with a dinner for the council of ministers and the release of three books. The museum displayed the gifts received by the presidents of India during their tenure, which were previously stored in the

Toshakhana The was originally a Mughal Empire, Mughal place where princes store "gifts and emblems of honor that they received for their posterity ... an archive of objects whose origin and receipt embodied his status and honor" The term is of Persian la ...

. Pankaj Protim Bordoloi served as the first

museologist Museology (also called museum studies or museum science) is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and ed ...

Indian constitution in Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum

Phase-II

The next phase of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum opened on 26 July 2016, marking the completion of four years of presidency by Mukherjee. Similar to the first phase, the second phase was also built at a cost of , in the location that was previously the garage for the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime minister Modi inaugurated the second phase of the museum in present of president Mukherjee and

vice-president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Mohammad Hamid Ansari Mohammad Hamid Ansari (; born 1 April 1937) is an Indian bureaucrat and retired Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who was the vice president of India from 2007 to 2017. Ansari joined the IFS in 1961. In a diplomatic career spanning 38 year ...

. Built on an area of , the Garage Museum was made to showcase the history behind the development of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the British viceroys who inhabited the building, the independence and declaration of India as a republic nation, the lives and contributions of the presidents of India, and the life inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Mukherjee also launched a section within the official Rashtrapati Bhavan website dedicated to information and services for the museum and the Amrit Udyan garden outside the presidential palace.

Opening to the public

As a final step, the museum was opened for the public on 2 October 2016, covering in area with its entry and exit gates on Mother Teresa Crescent Road. At the

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

, the museum was finally opened for the public. Other than the presidents and important personalities associated with the Indian independence movement, the museum also displayed

silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

sculptures of people associated with the construction of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. To inaugurate the opening of the museum, an art exhibition by

Rouble Nagi Rouble Nagi (born 8 July 1980) is an Indian artist specialising in sculptures, art installations and paintings. She is the Founder of Rouble Nagi Art Foundation. She is also the founder of Rouble Nagi Design Studio. She has over 800 murals to h ...

titled Flamenco was hosted till 10 October. The president's office also floated the hastag ''#VisitRBMuseum'' to encourage children to participate in activities at the museum complex.

Exterior

The museum has been built over three storeys within the years old Rashtrapati Bhavan complex. The museum complex has been divided into three museums, the Stables Museum built in the first phase, the Garage Museum built in the second phase and the Clock Tower restored before the museum was opened to the public. At the time of construction, it was the only underground museum of India. The tall Clock Tower was restored by

IIT Delhi Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT- Delhi) is a public institute of technology located in Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology created to be a Centre of Excellence for India's training, research and developme ...

in 2015, whereas the restoration of the building itself was carried out by the

Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is a non-profit charitable organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. In 2007, the United Nations awarded INTACH a special consultative status with the ...

(INTACH).

Interior

When the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum was first inaugurated in July 2014, the interior consisted of various modes of visual communication to provide knowledge to the visitors. Items like the president's vintage Mercedes Benz, a horse-drawn buggies, are kept on display in the museum. The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, with the visiting time within the museums being from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM.

Gallery

File:Bas relief Indian presidents.jpg, Portraits of all the presidents of India embossed in bronze plates. File:Indian president horsecart.jpg, The buggy of the president, now preserved in the Garage Museum. File:Furniture by Edwin Lutyens.jpg,

Furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

before planning

. File:The chairs on which Lord and Lady Curzon sat during Delhi Durbar.jpg, The chairs on which Lord and Lady

Curzon Curzon may refer to: People Americans * Aria Curzon (born 1987), American actress * Walter de Curzon Poultney (1845–1929), one of Baltimore, Maryland's most colorful and flamboyant high-society members Britons * Christopher Curzon (born 1958), ...

sat during the

. File:Wax statues of Indian presidents part 1.jpg, Fiberglass statues of the first seven Indian presidents (L-R:

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (19 May 1913 – 1 June 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the president of India, serving from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress Party in the independence movem ...

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independen ...

V. V. Giri Varahagiri Venkata Giri (; 10 August 1894 – 24 June 1980), better known as V. V. Giri was an Indian statesman and activist who served as the president of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974. He also served as the vice president of ...

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 188817 April 1975; natively Radhakrishna) was an Indian academician, philosopher and statesman who served as the President of India from 1962 to 1967. He previously served as the vice president of ...

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (13 May 1905 – 11 February 1977) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of India from 1974 to 1977. Born in Delhi, Ahmed studied in Delhi and Cambridge and was called to the bar from the Inner ...

, Zakir Hussain,

Zail Singh Giani Zail Singh (, born Jarnail Singh; 5 May 1916 – 25 December 1994) was an Indian politician from Punjab who served as the president of India from 1982 to 1987 and chief minister of Punjab. He was the first Sikh to become president. B ...

File:Wax statues of Indian presidents part 2.jpg, Fiberglass statues of the next seven Indian presidents (L-R:

R. Venkataraman Ramaswamy Venkataraman (, 4 December 191027 January 2009), also known as R. Venkataraman, was an Indian lawyer, independence activist and politician who served as a union minister and as the president of India. Venkataraman was born in Rajam ...

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam ( ; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the president of India from 2002 to 2007. Born and raised in a Muslim family in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Kala ...

Shankar Dayal Sharma Shankar Dayal Sharma (; 19 August 1918 – 26 December 1999) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of India from 1992 to 1997. Born in Bhopal, Sharma studied at Agra, Allahabad and Lucknow and received a doctorate i ...

Pratibha Patil Pratibha Devisingh Patil (born 19 December 1934), also known as Pratibha Patil Shekhawat, is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2007 to 2012. She was the first woman to become the president of India. A m ...

K. R. Narayanan Kocheril Raman "K. R." Narayanan (27 October 1920 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1992 to 1997 and president of India from 1997 to 2002. Naray ...

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind ( ; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first person from Uttar Pradesh to serve as the president. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Delhi, state=collapsed Museums in Delhi Rashtrapati Bhavan Presidents of India Government of India Government buildings in Delhi History of Delhi History of India