Chandannagar’s famous French museum turns victim of neglect

The first crash happened in October during the Durga Puja holidays when the place was shut and it was a miraculous escape for the artefacts.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The famous French museum in Chandannagar, located in what’s popularly known as Dupleix Palace, appears to have become a victim of neglect with the false ceiling in two of its halls crashing in the recent weeks, a narrow escape for visitors including foreigners.

The building, formally known as Institut de Chandernagor, was where Joseph Francois Dupleix lived as the governor-general when Chandannagar was a French colony; it’s an important address in the town, where French is taught and which also houses a historic library apart from the museum.

The first crash happened in October during the Durga Puja holidays when the place was shut and it was a miraculous escape for the artefacts. The second time that the ceiling came down, this time in the central hall, was on November 26, when there were people.

“It was a crowded afternoon, with many visitors, including a good number of foreigners. In their presence, a concrete chunk all of a sudden crashed down from right onto the table on which the handover of Chandannagar to India was signed. The foreigners narrowly escaped, but they were traumatised and they must have carried back a wrong impression of the museum’s maintenance,” Basabi Pal, director of the institute since 2022, told The Hindu.

“It was our sheer good luck that the chunk dropped on the furniture and not on any human being. Otherwise, there would have been a severe accident with other serious consequences to follow,” Prof. Pal, who has spent almost her entire life in Chandannagar and has childhood memories of the museum, wrote to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), responsible for its maintenance, while describing the two incidents.

The ASI said that conservation work at the building was under consideration. “Our people have inspected the site and we have sent a proposal for approval to Delhi. Once we receive the approval we will proceed with conservation,” senior ASI official Rajendra Yadav said.

Prof. Pal said that any delay was highly dangerous and could cause serious damage, including loss of lives. “How can I ever convey the pain and frustration through which I am living right now, spending sleepless nights, looking at the terrible mess in which I find the museum? I feel helpless, not being able to do anything to save this beautiful heritage that is so close to my heart. I have literally grown up here, having witnessed all the ups and downs of this rare institution, with all its activities as a cultural hub, for over six decades. I always feel that this place is a living soul which knows me even better than most of the people surrounding me, and it is this emotional attachment which has brought me to the helm of its administration. But to what effect?” Prof. Pal, who has been decorated by the French government with as Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, asked.

The institute, according to her, is facing neglect not just by the ASI. Even the historic library, run by the West Bengal government, has not had a librarian for 12 years now.