Baroda Museum’s loss is Patan’s gain

Baroda Museum is set to lose five centuries-old artefacts to the newly-established Sidhpur Museum in Patan.

The artefacts to be shifted to Sidhpur Museum include a 9th century pillar with intricately carved design, a 12th century white marble figure of a 14-armed Vishnu image sitting on Garuda, an 18th century Vishnu image surrounded by four attendant, another 18th century image of Vishnu standing with Brahma and a 16th century image of Lakshmi Narayan.

Three of them are already on display in the Baroda Museum premises while the last two are placed in the museum's storehouse.

MM Pathan, director (museums), Gujarat, said the artefacts which are being sent to the Patan museum have been selected by the state tourism department officials based on certain themes and that the Vadodara museum would get other artefacts.

"We have got several artefacts in store which will replace the ones that are being sent to Sidhpur Museum. The museum in Sidhpur is based on different themes, for which these artefacts are needed," he said.

RD Parmar, former director of Baroda Museum who had created the sculpture garden in the museum premises where three of the five artefacts are on display, said he had created the garden keeping public interest in mind. "We created good structure with public interest and education in mind. These artefacts are important. But at the same time, creation of a new museum is also important," he said.

Professor Deepak Kannal, Department of Art History and Aesthetics, M S University, echoed a similar view. "It is a common practice to shift artefacts from one museum to another for public viewing as long as the artefacts do not fall in private hand. People in Patan also need to view art-work," he said.

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