Delhi: New IGNCA premises inaugurated at revamped Hotel Janpath

Jul 01,2021

The government on Thursday inaugurated the new premises of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) at the refurbished Janpath Hotel, almost 1.5 km away from its present spot on Janpath road.

The institution, which functions under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, is expected to function from Hotel Janpath for the next two years, till it moves to its permanent location at Jamnagar House on the India Gate circle.

The IGNCA has been shifted out from its sprawling campus to make way for three ministry buildings, as part of the Central Vista project. The buildings on the old campus will be razed in a few months, and redevelopment will commence for the new buildings, sources said.

Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel and Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri participated in the inaugural ceremony on Thursday afternoon. Puri said the hotel, which was refurbished by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), would be the temporary home for IGNCA till 2023. He added that when the IGNCA is finally shifted to its permanent location at Jamnagar House, it will be a world-class facility.

Architect and planner Bimal Patel, whose firm HCP Design has been awarded the contract to redevelop Central Vista, had said recently that IGNCA would be shifted to a 15-acre space in Jamnagar House, which has some hutments currently.

IGNCA member-secretary Sachidanand Joshi told The Indian Express that the centre would be opened to the general public soon: “While all our administrative and academic activities have started from Day 1, we shall open the space for the general public with exhibitions and events in the next fortnight.”

Around 3 lakh printed books, over a lakh slides on various cultural traditions, 3 lakh manuscripts, 60,000 microfilm rolls, thousands of paintings, textiles, and other archival material – part of the IGNCA’s repository – have been placed in various rooms of the hotel. Over the next few days, unpacking will be done and material will be assigned to designated rooms and areas. The permanent exhibitions at the campus, such as the one on Raja Deen Dayal, will be remounted at the new location.

Joshi added, “So all our usual academic and cultural activities – library, research, art exhibitions, cultural events – will carry on and nothing will be missed out. We have a reasonably big auditorium and amphitheatre also. It’s a new space and a different set-up, so recalibrating will take a few days. Utmost care has been taken during transit and storage of all material.”