Chola and Hoysala idols at risk during Egmore Museum renovation

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Idols, Some dating to the Hoysala and Chola Periods, lie neglected under the harsh summer sun at the Government Museum in Egmore. Pictured are renovating beams | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

What we do not save, we lose, and with it, a piece of what it means to be human.

Over the last month, renovation has been taking place at the Egmore Government Museum at the cost of some of Tamil Nadu’s most prized idols and sculptures. Construction equipment is propped up beside ancient temple pillars and idols. The antiques, many of which are more than 1,000 years old, had been seized by the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police, and then stored here.

Earlier reports in The Hindu suggest that the Idol Wing of Tamil Nadu seized several thousand artefacts over the years, including centuries-old stone sculptures and idols, carved stone pillars, intricately worked wooden pieces, temple cars, vahanas or ritual vehicles for gods, , among others and were stored in a haphazard manner at the rear-end of the unit’s premises that is part of the CB-CID Economic Offences Wing at Guindy in Chennai back in 2019. The police claimed that the museum did not allocate space for these idols to be placed there. Subsequently though, these idols were placed inside the museum campus, with little concern or care for its storied heritage. This remains the status till date.

Pillars lie with construction rubble | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The renovation work by the Public Works Department is currently taking place at the Geology Wing of the museum constructed in 1851. The structure has reportedly suffered 60% damage with time and is spread across 5,500 square feet. Workers say that they are currently painting the structure. Beside the Geology section, on a vacant plot of museum land, lie statues and pillars, seized from across the world, by the Idol Wing. They have been placed on the floor, close to construction equipment that churn out concrete. The beams that hold a building together can be seen restin