Presidency Univ gets its own museum, to illustrate 200-year-old history

Kolkata: Various landmark historical events associated with the 200 years of Presidency University will be displayed at the museum of the university, which will be opened to mark the bicentennial closing ceremony of the university. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is also the chancellor of the university is expected to inaugurate the museum on January 19.

"There has been a lot of programmes over the year to mark the bicentenary of the university. We want to ensure that young generation has an idea about the contribution of this institution in the history of the country and particularly Bengal. We feel that this will be the best gift," university registrar Debajyoti Konar said.

It may be mentioned that the museum is being set up on an area of 2,000 sqaure feet and Swapan Chakraborty, who is a professor at the History department will be acting as the curator of the museum.

"It will have a collection of lectures delivered by Rabindranath Tagore, the writings of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen while he was studying in the fourth year of the university (erstwhile Presidency College)," an official of the university said.

Among the other things of interest, there will be documents pertaining to research carried out by eminent scientists like Jagadish Chandra Bose and Prafulla Chandra Roy. The attendance register of scientists like Meghnad Saha, Satyen Bose, will also be on display at the library. The third volume of Principia Mathematica by Issac Newton will also be available. A number of books that were published way back in 1621 and the contribution of the institution in the freedom struggle will also be a part of the collection.