Heritage lovers have reason to cheer as the world-famous and renovated Amaravati gallery and four other galleries of the Chennai Government Museum have been thrown open to the public. Renovation work went on for about 10 years at a cost of Rs.62.5 lakh at the Amaravati gallery, which has a number of precious sculptures, belonging to the period between the 2 Century B.C. and the 2 Century A.D.
Several sculptures, embedded on the walls of the gallery, were removed and have now been kept for display on the lines of the British Museum, a senior official said.
In the last few years, the renovation of the Ayaka pillar, an important symbol of the Buddhist stupa of the Andhra region, was taken up and was completed only recently. The gallery remained closed during renovation.
On Friday, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa inaugurated, via video-conferencing, the gallery along with the galleries for the Hindu pantheon of gods; Jain sculptures; anthropology and copper plates. Apart from declaring open a gallery on textiles and dyes, she commissioned a 3-D auditorium at the Children’s Museum. A facility for the virtual tour of the museum and a museum bus for the benefit of school students was also commissioned. These facilities have been set up at a cost of about Rs. 3 crore.
Another important landmark of the city – Gandhi Mandapam in Guindy – got a makeover, for which the government had set apart Rs. 12 crore.
Spread over 18.42 acres, the Mandapam complex has, among others, memorials for leaders of yesteryear — Rajaji K. Kamaraj, M. Bakthavatsalam and Rettaimalai Srinivasan.
The renovation work included the laying of footpaths and roads besides gardening, all of which cost Rs. 7.2 crore. Old copies of photographs kept at several memorials on the Mandapam complex were also replaced with the fresh ones.
The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone for the sports fishing-cum-eco park in and around the Chetpet lake as part of the eco-restoration of the lake. Estimated to cost Rs. 42 crore, the project is expected to be completed by March, said an official in the Fisheries Department.
Facilities for boating will be offered. A multi-level car parking facility will also be provided.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by T. Ramkrishnan / Chennai – June 29th, 2014