Mining Museum in India

With the essence of preserving history of the nation, museums are built to display the artifacts of the old age works. A

rtifacts can be anything from coins, paintings and the display of the objects or the working procedures. India is well known for mining of the gold since first millennium BC. However, there has never been made an effort to build and preserve the artifacts of the age old mining methods in the Kolar Gold Fields to display it to the future generations. While on other side, the coal mining that has started in the year 1774 in India has been artificially reproduced in the Science and Technology museum to remember the history of the nation towards the technological growth.

One of the Science and Technology Museum that incorporates the replica of the mine workings is Birla Industrial and Technological Museum. 

The museum building has a fascinating story in itself from being a luxurious living mansion of Tagore’s to becoming a first science and technological museum of India named after one of the famous business man, G.D. Birla. He contributed the whole mansion towards developing a beautiful science park in the midst of Kolkata, capital city of West Bengal and the then most modern city of India.

The Museum was inaugurated in 1959. While the Mock up coal mine was set up in 1983. While only mining people have the knowledge of underground scenario, it is an interesting model to represent the scenario to the general public. They claim it to be the only kind which has been developed across the country for display to the public.

The model incorporates the coal mining method which represents the people excavating the coal manually and with the help of the machinery such as coal cutting machines. The illumination methods inside the deep underground mine have been demonstrated to the people before the era of electric lamps. The air flow in the model has also been setup using fans to recognize the efforts towards the ventilation in the mining scenario to direct the fresh air in the working areas. They have also incorporated the support systems used in the mine to support the roof from falls.

Museum people have made up a fantastic effort towards creating a replica of the mine to display it to the general public.

There should be more museums built to show the different types of the mining methods not only in coal but also in metal and display it to the general public. This will not only build up the awareness among the public but also boost the tourism in India.