St Xavier’s College to start course on museology

On Saturday, delegates at the Commonwealth Association of Museums (CAM) conference wrapped up the five-day long discussions on the role of museums in society.

On Saturday, delegates at the Commonwealth Association of Museums (CAM) conference wrapped up the five-day long discussions on the role of museums in society.

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But a practical application of that was in the making right here in Mumbai, the city hosting the conference.

The department of Ancient Indian Culture (AIC) at the newly autonomous St Xavier’s College is all set to introduce a semester-long course in

museology. For help it has tied up with Colaba’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), which started a post-graduate diploma course in museology and art conservation last year.

While museology was so far just one subject for second-year AIC students, under the college’s new credit system, first -year students will study a detailed ‘Elements of Museology’ course. Educational visits to CSMVS’s conservation laboratory are likely to be a regular feature in the course.

“I have been a visiting professor at the St Xaviers’ AIC department, and will now help them design their new syllabus, specially the sections on heritage conservation,” said CSMVS director Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who has agreed to be a board member of the St Xavier’s history and culture department.

“This CAM conference has changed my perspective of museology, and I will bring that change to my students when I teach,” she added.

“Museums are essentially educational institutions, and without focusing on education, we cannot even begin to build an economy,” said Tasneem Mehta, managing trustee of Byculla’s Bhau Daji Lad museum.