Mumbai’s CSMVS to reopen on Tuesday with discounted museum tickets
After an 11-month closure necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be a phased reopening, starting with four of the institution’s 18 galleries
One-way pedestrian routes and lowered ticket prices will mark the reopening of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj museum (CSMVS) on Tuesday, February 16.
After an 11-month closure necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be a phased reopening, starting with four of the institution’s 18 galleries. Natural history, Indian artefacts and the money and jewellery gallery, along with the Children’s Museum, will be open to visitors, for a price of ₹50 per adult and ₹20 per child, down from ₹100 and ₹30 respectively.
The museum will be open all days of the week, but from 10 am to 3 pm at first, complementing the restricted local-train timings.
“We have studied and learnt from the reopening process of the Nehru Science Centre and other museums, to better ensure the safety of our visitors and our staff members,” said Joyoti Roy, head of marketing and strategy at the museum.
Trends in other Indian museums show that about 100 to 150 visitors can be expected daily, for institutes such as CSMVS, which received 5,000 to 8,000 visitors a day in normal times. “We will ensure that there is a limited number of people inside the building at any given time. Other visitors will wait for their turn on the lawns,” Roy said.
The one-way pedestrian routes inside the building will ensure that visitors don’t come to face to face, and can more easily social-distance.
Temperature checks and masks will be compulsory. Sanitisers are in place across the museum and toilets will be cleaned several times a day, Roy added.
“CSMVS is a museum ‘by the people, for the people. We are following all standard norms laid down by the government and the ICOM [International Council of Museums]. Our staff have been sensitised towards this new normal too,” said Sabyasachi Mukherjee, director-general of the CSMVS.
Meanwhile, this rare interlude is being used to restore parts of the iconic heritage building which, incidentally, first opened its doors 99 years ago, on January 10, 1922.