Artefacts in Salar Jung Museum to get a face-lift

hyderabad: finally, there's hope for thousands of artefacts in the salar jung museum which have for the last few years been affected by the pollution in the musi river flowing from right in front of it. the national environmental engineering research institute, nagpur,(neeri) which has a branch in the city at the indian institute of chemical technology, will carry out a detailed 15-month study on the air quality in and around the museum.the study will begin right away. for the salar jung museum authorities, the pollution in the musi river has become a big problem with silverware turning black in the museum. brassware and lead too become black while paintings have been losing their brightness. a yellow coat is noticeable on the marble statues because of the pollution from the musi. "we have been restoring the affected artefacts on a continuous basis but we would like to find a permanent solution to the problem," salar jung museum director dr a k v s reddy told "the times of india" here on tuesday. the salar jung museum board which met here under the chairmanship of governor dr c rangarajan on monday approved the proposal for a comprehensive study of the air quality so that remedial measures can be taken. this is the first time ever that such a study is being conducted and for any of the 700 museums in the country. the national research laboratory for conservation of cultural property, lucknow has for the last one-and-a-half years been carrying out studies relating to the affect of pollution on the artefacts in the museum. in the study to be conducted by neeri, the air quality at the entrance of the museum, around the museum, in the galleries and also show cases will be studied. dr c p uniyal, chemist and head, conservation laboratory, of the museum said the pollution in the musi and garbage in emitted dangerous gases like sulphur dioxide, sulphurtrioxide and hydrogen sulphide. because of these, silverware, zari work, bidri inlays, china clay and paintings in which there was white pigment are affected. dr uniyal said conservation of all artefacts was a continuous process in the museum but so far they have not been able to prevent the artefacts from being affected by the pollution. "we will be able to prevent the artefacts from getting affected because of the pollution once the study is completed," the director of the museum, dr a k v s reddy said.