A VISIT TO A MUSEUM
Museum were once considered store house of antiquities and wonderful valuable things. Today, they are also considered to be educational institution. So, efforts are made by museum personnel all over the world to convey essential information stored up in the museum in the form of exhibits, through pleasing display and extension activities.
Our school science club organized an excursion to Bangalore during last Christmas holidays. Being a member of the club, I also joined the tour. One of our primary aims was to visit the famous Viswesvarayya Industrial and Technological Museum. This is considered to be one of the best museums in the Asian region. We were all delighted to visit the museum. We reached the museum, brought the ticket and get in.
The museum is spread on four floors. It has five permanent galleries with exhibits on motive power, electro technology, timber and paper and metals, popular science. The museum has three Mobile Science Exhibition Unit carrying twenty-four standard size exhibits on various subjects of rural importance. The Viswesvarayya Museum has a specially set up workshop where precision work of model-making is attended to by experienced and well trained technicians. Most of the exhibits can be operated by themselves. In addition, well- trained guides explain the scientific principles behind the exhibits.
The museum is an activity-oriented one. We could see youngsters of the age group of 9 to 12 working at the hobby centres and fabricating complicated models to exhibits such as radio receivers and remote control. We saw valuable antique collections such as paper cone gramaphone, old typewriters, oil engines and steam engines.
We spent about 4 hours in the museum. It was a wonderful experience. The visit has helped me to increase my scientific knowledge.