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Download PDF The 42 artefacts brought back from France and another 143 relics that were selected to be sent for an exhibition at Guimet Museum in Paris were put on display yesterday at National Museum in the capital.
The weeklong exhibition at the Nalinikanto Bhattashali gallery of the National Museum will remain open for public till March 9.
A large crowd gathered at the gallery yesterday afternoon to see the masterpieces of the country after Rasheda K Choudhury, cultural affairs adviser, inaugurated the show.
Sharful Alam, cultural affairs secretary, Momtazul Islam, education secretary, Samar Chandra Paul, director general of the National Museum, Dr Shafiqul Islam, director of Department of Archaeology, Mohammad Zakaria, director of Barendra Research Museum, Qamrul Islam NDC, director of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, and other high officials concerned were also present on the occasion.
Following the century-old two Vishnu statuettes heist last year, the 42 priceless relics were brought back to Dhaka from Paris on February 23 while the rest, awaiting to be shipped to Paris at Zia International Airport, were returned to the National Museum on December 21.
Except for coins, books and other small items, most of the artefacts are being displayed inside their packing boxes with their fronts open as the artefacts will be sent to their corresponding museums in Rajshahi and Bogra following the conclusion of the exhibition in the capital.
The adviser told reporters at the exhibition, “We arranged this exhibition to clear public confusion over the artefacts.”
Asked if the original artefacts were brought back from France, she said, “I am sure all these are original masterpieces. No replica.”
Responding to another query, the adviser said, “I personally don’t think that we need any technical or chemical test to ascertain the authenticity of these artefacts.”
Among the displayed items, 43 belong to the National Museum, 24 to Barendra Research Museum, 47 (including a set of 50 silver coins treated as one item) to Mahasthangarh Museum, 7 (including 8 gold coins treated as one item) to Mainamati Museum and 8 items belong to Paharpur Museum.
A few of the art connoisseurs who protested the government decision of sending the artefacts to Paris also visited the exhibition yesterday.
When asked for his comments over the exhibition, AKM Zakaria, former secretary and a veteran archaeologist, said, “I don’t want to make any comment on it right this moment.”
Nesar Ahmed, a teacher of Department of Fine Arts at Dhaka University, said, “We protested the way they were treating our archaeological treasures. They were sending them in a way people ship vegetables and as a result, we lost two valuable artefacts,” he said.
“The government did not allow us to see what they had sent and what have come back,” he further added.
The exhibition will be open for all from 9:30am to 4:30pm everyday, except Thursday — the weekly holiday of the museum. On Friday, the exhibition will be open from 3:30pm to 7:30pm.
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