MUSEOLOGY

Introduction Image: 

Museums are the store house of of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic or historical importance and exhibits them for public viewing.

It consists of the collection of the things that are of prehistoric ages. So Museology is the study of organizing and managing museums and museum collections.

Museology an allied subject of Archeology teaches museum organization and management including collection, documentation and research, exhibition of contents, conservation and preservation, museum security.

Growing awareness about art and culture is opening up new education avenues like museology, conservation and art history for Indian youngsters with a flair for aesthetics and love for the land`s millennia-old heritage.

As theIndian Art industry has grown manifold Museums are moving out of the confines of centralised institutions to connect to people, entrepreneurs are investing in art galleries and the government is stepping up initiative to preserve heritage.

Hence in the last decade, heritage studies have become increasingly popular with rising awareness about museology, the study of museums.

Two factors have been responsible for the popularity of heritage studies-the arrival of new information technology tools and museums re-inventing themselves in ways so that youngsters can understand them.

Digitisation has changed the entire face of subjects like documentation, which is vital to the study of heritage and conservation. They are no longer manual.

One of the reasons why conservation and heritage study are emerging as sought-after modules in India is the possession of international level expertise and easy access to foreign aids

According to C.V. Ananda Bose, vice-chancellor of the National Museum Institute (NMI), a premier heritage education center "The new museums are no longer places of cloistered knowledge.

Archives are emerging as centres of cultural activities, rekindling the interest of viewers. New kinds of museums like people`s museum, panchayati raj museum, campus museums, community museums and private museums are coming up in India.
 
Museums need more workforce."
 
The art auctions and art galleries around the world also need museology, art conservation and art history experts. Many students also set up their own "conservation and heritage documentation studios" after completing their education.

NMI, attached to the National Museum, offers post-graduate and doctoral modules in museology, history of art and conservation. The courses are taught in four semesters, capped by a six-month internship programme.

Museology was introduced in India as a university module in 1952 at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara (Baroda) and currently, the subject is taught at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, the Bharat Kala Bhavan in Varanasi, Kolkata University and at NMI.

In India, students of museum studies are broadly instructed in the basics of museology, growth and history of museums, curating and exhibition fundamentals and museum management - which includes cataloguing and documentation.

Students of heritage studies need to study one foreign language or one classical Indian language like Sanskrit or Persian.

Conservation studies in India can be divided into categories - preventive and curative. Preventive conservation looks at the environment of heritage and the possible threats like extremes in climate (Kashmir and Kerala), heat, humidity and insects.

Curative conservation treats heritage like a hospital treats a patient.
Eligibility Criteria: The criteria for a course in Museology is Graduation or Post Graduation in Science, History or Art History or Fine Arts and Archaeology.

At least Fifty five percent marks at graduate and postgraduate level are needed for M.A and Ph.D courses.

Another important added advantage for Museology courses is knowledge of one classical or foreign language such as Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Greek, Latin, German, French and Italian.

Courses: The courses are divided into two parts i.e the theoretical and practical aspects of museum operations.
 
Course areas include History of Museum, Collection Management, Documentation, Presentation and Interpretation, Museum Architecture, History & Archaeology of India, History of Art, Folk art & culture of India, Preservation of Natural History specimens, Conservation of Cultural Properties etc.
The courses provided in Museology are:
 
•    Advance Diploma in Archaeology and Museology.
•    B.A. History with Archeology and Museology.
•    B.A. Museology and Archaeology.
•    M.A. Museology.
•    M.Sc. Museology.
•    Ph.D. Museology.
•    Post Graduate Diploma in Museology.
 
Colleges and Institutes: The study of Museology in India has evolved a great deal with a number of institutes and colleges offering diploma and degree courses in Public Relation.
Some of the ample, renowned and top institutes and colleges in India are:
 
•    Union Christian College, Aluva (Kerala).
•    St. Thomas College, Palai (Kerala).
•    Assumption College, Changanassery (Kerala).
•    Jiwaji University, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh).
•    M.S. (Maharaja Sayajirao) University of Baroda : Faculty of Fine Arts,
     Vadodara (Gujarat).
•    National Museum Institute, New Delhi.
•    University of Calcutta, Kolkata (West Bengal).
•    Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh).
•    Osmania University, Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh).

Job Prospects: In India the job prospects in Museology is vast as there are over more then 1000 Museums offering wide employment, starting from Central Government Museums to the District level ones and from Trust Museums to private ones.
 
A variety of careers exist within the discipline of museum studies, including Museum director, curator, educator, exhibit designer, archivist and conservation specialist. Both government and private run Museums recruit many students every year.
 
Some of them are National Museum, New Delhi; Indian Museum, Kolkata; Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad, RBI Monetary Museum, Aziz Bhat Museum in Kargil, ONGC’s second oil museum at Guwahati, Sachin Tendulkar museum in Mumbai etc.