Nagaland State Museum, the once happening place, wears a deserted look

Our Correspondent
Kohima, June 22 (EMN): Curated tours and excited voices have been replaced by silence and an emptiness that has stretched for four months now, as the global health crisis is keeping visitors away from the State Museum in Kohima.

Even before the nationwide lockdown on March 25, the government of Nagaland had, on March 20, decided to close down public places, including museums.

Since then, the State Museum has not recorded nay visitor till date as those in-charge of curating the collection inside the museum wait for the government to allow museums to reopen. 

Speaking to Eastern Mirror on Monday, Adela Moa, Joint Director for the department of Art and Culture, said that the museum has been registering “nil visitors” since March.

With no visitors for three months now, the State Museum is likely to be affected in terms of income generation as well. The revenue is “just nil now,” the officer said.

“It (revenue) will definitely go down this year,” she added.

The State Museum had generated revenue of INR 2,05,390 for one year, she said. As for entry fee to the museum, INR 10 per visitor is charged.  

While expressing uncertainty about the lockdown duration, she expressed hope that the public will start visiting the museum again, once the lockdown is lifted.

‘Once the schools start opening, and as part of their curriculum, they might come to the museum. Maybe, tourists and even local visitors will also start coming again,’ Moa said. 

“In normal times (pre-lockdown), the State Museum received visitors during holiday season like April, May and during Hornbill Festival. Students from various schools, study tours, and tourists from other parts of India in tourist groups, used to come,” she added.

The Art and Culture department has different institutions besides the State Museum, such as State Archives, State Library, War Museum in Kisama, and State Academy Hall, which are now closed for public visits.

She said that skeletal staff is running the branches and some basic maintenance is going on. The officer added that they are waiting for the new order from the government. When asked if they are planning to go for an online tour for viewers, she said that it is not included in the plan at the moment.

According to separate studies by the Unesco and the International Council of Museums (ICOM), museums across the globe have been especially affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with nearly 90% of them, or more than 85,000 institutions, having closed their doors for varying lengths of time during the crisis. Further, in Africa and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), only 5% of museums were able to offer online content to their audiences. Nearly 13% of museums around the world may never reopen, it stated.