INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN MUSEUM
Living in the world without knowing it is like visiting the best library on earth without ever reading a single book in your life. Hunger for multiple issues and objects form a part of our social dynamic, but because of the lack of time and finance it seems to run past us. Museums are the solutions to feel the experience and expand our horizon of knowledge about specific fields. Mountains are loved by almost everyone, because they are sacred, hypnotic and an example of the wholesomeness of mother earth. Simplicity of the mountains, people and their culture is envied by everyone who sees them. Whenever we see those people we can easily judge them because they are part of the nature. They live like the mountain, changing the nature’s harshness into bliss. Nepal which is home to more than eight highest peaks out of ten and is always acknowledged one of the mountainous nations in the world. These peaks don’t just satiate people’s dormant quest for beauty but also serves as an invaluable source of water for millions of people especially of north India and Nepal. The flora and fauna of the mountainous region contributes to the healing of the deadliest of diseases and balances the ecosystem. So if you can’t spend time in the mountain then the International Mountain Museum make you know about almost everything about mountain.
International Mountain Museum which lies in the bank of Seti River, foot hill of Mt. fishtails inside the beautiful city of Pokhra in Nepal. The International Mountain Museum formally opened on 5th February, 2004. The museum spread over 12.5 acre of land and contains model of famous peak, mannequin of renowned mountaineer, culture and the life style of the people of these regions, flora and fauna including geology. A tall six facet rock climbing wall welcomes you to the entrance of the museum. A replica of Mt. fishtail is presented to scale for everyone at the gate of main building. The models of Nepali houses and huts have been constructed premises of the museum. It has three exhibition halls, the hall of mountain people, hall of the mountain of the world and the hall of mountain activities.
The Hall of Mountain People contains indigenous habitants of mountain people and their culture, customs, artifacts and lifestyle. It tries to exhibits theirs cultures through model houses and mannequins of people around the world. The representation of Nepal, Japan, Slovenia, and Taiwan can be seen over here. The adjoining hall of video has daily three shows of movies and documentaries about mountain. When you move beyond will reach to the Hall of the World Mountains which introduces fourteen highest peaks above 8000 m of the world in chronological order as well as the historical and geographical background of these mountains. The rock samples of these mountains are also another attraction of this hall. The corner of dedication acquaints with five prominent figures who have contributed in Himalayan studies including Sir Edmund Hilary the first conqueror of Everest. The other hall, the Hall of mountain Activities displays professional mountaineering kits, used by various climbers including the first lady climber Junko Tabei. After seeing all these mountaineering kits a visitor can weigh how difficult it is to scale mountains. One will find amazement on seeing the display of garbage collected from Mount Everest collected from 2001 to 2003 to create aware about degradation of mountain ecology. There is another section which will enchant your senses by offering you with real dead mountain animals that is: snow leopard to small moths. As praying is a part of mountain people, a room is built like Buddhist monastery style which is open for all to meditate and pray. There is also a library inside the museum which is dedicated to mountain studies.