Culture 2024: India hosts World Heritage Committee session, pact signed for new National Museum

The mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty in Assam received the UNESCO tag during the World Heritage Committee session that India hosted for the first time in 2024 while a key agreement was signed towards the end of the year to transform the British-era North Block and South Block into a grand museum.

It was a calendar full of events for the culture ministry which has now set its sight on the upcoming Mahakumbh in Prayagraj where it has planned to build and run a thematic village -- 'Kalagram' -- to showcase the country's rich, spiritual and cultural heritage in early 2025.

The year also saw some major changes in the top leadership of the ministry with senior BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat taking charge as the Union Culture Minister after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections succeeding G Kishan Reddy who was allotted the portfolio of coal.

In August, bureaucrat Arunish Chawla was assigned additional charge of the post of secretary in the ministry after senior IAS officer Govind Mohan, who earlier served as the Union culture secretary, was appointed the Union home secretary.

The year 2024 will prove a milestone in India's cultural history as a grand 'Pran Pratishtha' of the new Ram temple was held in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a sea of other dignitaries on January 22.

A month after the mega event, a specially curated two-month-long exhibition displaying artworks themed on the epic Ramayana was hosted at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGNA), to commemorate the historic consecration ceremony.

Titled 'Chitrakavyam Ramayanam', the exhibition featured NGMA's own rich collection of artworks as well as those drawn from multiple other sources.

"Epics are timeless, beyond time and space. The story of Lord Ram, 'Maryada Purushottam' portrays an ideal man, and this exhibition is an attempt to showcase what Ramayana attempts to teach us," the exhibition's curator, Jyoti Tokas had said.

The months of February and March saw hosting of a special 26-day exposition of some of the holy relics of Lord Buddha along with those of his disciples Arahata Sariputra and Arahata Maudgalayana at various locations in Thailand.

These relics, revered by the Buddhist followers around the world, were ferried to Thailand in a special Indian Air Force aircraft, befitting the status as a 'State Guest' on February 22 and returned to India amid full state honours.

The four Holy Piparahwa Relics of Lord Buddha and his two disciples are preserved in India. While the relics of Lord Buddha is in the custody of the National Museum, the relics of his esteemed disciples were sent to Delhi by Madhya Pradesh for their eventual journey to Thailand for the exposition.

The March calendar of the ministry was rather busy with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) unveiling its revamped website seeking to widen engagement of people with the country's rich cultural heritage, and signing Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with various agencies for the adoption of monuments under the 'Adopt a Heritage 2.0' programme.

Besides, a large number of artists had gathered at the historic Purana Quila here on as part of a daylong camp to bring their vision of 'Viksit Bharat' on canvas, showcasing it through charcoal sketching to oil painting.

However, it was a landmark and proud moment for the country when New Delhi hosted the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) between July 21-July 31.

The mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty in Assam -- 'Moidams' -- was on July 26 inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, making it the first cultural property from the Northeast to get the coveted tag.

'Moidams' was submitted as India's nomination for inclusion in the Unesco World Heritage List for the year 2023-24.

In January, the ministry had said that 'Maratha Military Landscapes' representing extraordinary fortification and military system envisioned by the Maratha rulers would be India's nomination for UNESCO tag for the 2024-25 cycle.

The 12 components of this nomination are - Salher fort, Shivneri fort, Lohgad, Khanderi fort, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala fort, Vijay durg, and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, and Gingee Fort in Tamil Nadu.

During the year, President Droupadi Murmu attended the event marking the 125th birth anniversary of former Odisha chief minister and 'Utkal Keshari' Harekrushna Mahtab, and the first Asian Buddhist Summit, both hosted by the ministry.

Year-long celebrations starting November 26 were announced by the ministry to mark 75 years of India's Constitution. A special website, a booklet on the artwork in the Constitution prepared by the ministry has also been released.

As the year closed to an end, India's National Museum and France Museums Development signed an agreement under which the French agency will share modalities and best practices to transform the North Block and South Block into a "global cultural landmark", dubbed the Yuga Yugeen Bharat National Museum.

Shekhawat in his address at the event said the project will "redefine the concept of adaptive reuse" and show "profound respect for India's built heritage".

The new museum will cover an area of 1.17 lakh sqm with 950 rooms spread over a basement and three storeys.

Its development will "breathe new life" into the two historic blocks, preserving their unique architectural features while "reimagining their purpose".

"When the South Block and North Block become the kind of museum that is envisaged, I think we will veritably be seeing an inspiration for the remaking of Bharat," External Affair Minister S Jaishankar said in his address.