Photos: Walk with Gandhi in the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum
With a moon rock, a chunk of Mount Everest and the chance to stroll with Gandhi, Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi is lifting the veil on its treasures in a new museum. Drawcards include a Mercedes car given to premier Rajiv Gandhi by the king of Jordan, a horse-drawn presidential buggy complete with horses, virtual reality rooms that project visitors alongside Mahatma Gandhi, and recreations of landmark moments from India’s past and towards independence.
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Students from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Dwarka walk past a statue commemorating the Salt March of 1930, featuring Mahatma Gandhi and his followers, displayed inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum in New Delhi. The President's House, a classical palace with an Indian twist, is one of the grandest palaces in India, built by the British as the Viceroy’s House. (Chandan Khanna / AFP)
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Students look at glassware used by former presidents of India. Storerooms not opened for decades -- some because of superstition -- were unlocked in a treasure hunt to put together the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum’s collection. (Chandan Khanna / AFP)
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An interactive holographic cone projection of former president Pratibha Patil. The museum recreates moments from India’s independence struggle such as Mahatma Gandhi’s landmark protest march against the salt tax in 1930 and the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre of civilians by troops under British command. (Chandan Khanna / AFP)
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Combination shows (top) school children posing next to a green screen and (below) their image projected with the figure of Mahatma Gandhi. Technology allows visitors to walk with Gandhi in the virtual reality room, while interactive features include a flipbook of India’s constitution. (Chandan Khanna / AFP)
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