Museums are hallowed centres of learning and enlightenment. They’re supposed to be places where you can take your children, or perhaps even just enjoy a few hours dwelling on the magnificence of the past. The State Museum at Patto, however, is anything but a place where you can spend a few hours getting inspired. No doubt, they do have interesting pieces that intrigue you, but it’s the structure that fails to stimulate.
For a long time now, the museum has been struggling to stay intact. The roofs have been leaking, and the damage being caused in alarming. In fact, it is such a scary proposition
that the museum authorities have locked away some of the artifacts for fear of being damaged. With such a morbid sense of apathy towards the one institution that was aimed at preserving
our past for posterity, among other things, it is only illogical
to believe that the government can run another museum.
This puts the planned conversion
of the Aguada Jail into perspective.
The state government aims to convert
the former jail into a ‘historical
and heritage centre’, a project that
will cost nearly Rs 26 crore.
So what is the need to do this? Is
it just so that a piece of prime property
remains intact and within control
of the government? If there is a philosophical angle to this
plan, perhaps the need to create a nice space for the preservation
and showcasing of history, then it would have made more
sense to upgrade the facilities of the current museum in Patto.
A museum is not just one that houses collections from
around the area. There are also travelling collections that educate
and add value to the brand. None of this happens in Goa.
The Aguada Jail is in a corner of Goa, down a narrow road.
Proper access will be needed as well, but this is all irrelevant.
A government that cannot run and maintain one museum,
cannot be entrusted with another one, albeit one that will be
more ‘modern’. There is also the matter of creating collections.
Merely constructing an institution doesn’t give it credence.
That comes from curation.
Perhaps it would be prudent to consider getting in private
parties, if the idea of a museum is non-negotiable. There are
many organisations who are far more capable of running a
successful institution than the government. There’s also the
option of adaptive reuse, which is a far more creative idea that
will not detract from the structure’s historical value and will
also breathe new life into it.
It’s imperative that this entire plan be reimagined. The concept
of a museum there, given the current state of the State
Museum, is flawed.
