
Mumbai Gallery
14 October , 2024 @ 11:00 am - 11 October , 2025 @ 5:00 pm

CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ VASTU SANGRAHALAYA, MUMBAI INAUGURATES THE CITY’S FIRST MUMBAI GALLERY WITH A SPECIAL EXHIBITION CELEBRATING
‘THE PEOPLE OF MUMBAI’
Supported by the Hemendra Kothari Foundation and The H T Parekh Foundation
The CSMVS Mumbai Gallery
The CSMVS completed 100 years in 2022. One of the objectives of the centenary was to set up a gallery dedicated to the city of Mumbai, which is a city of dreams, a city of opportunities, a city of migrations and a city of cosmopolitanism. The Mumbai gallery is planned as a platform that will showcase diverse ideas through cyclical long-term exhibitions that can bring out unique facets of the city and its daily life. The first exhibition in the Mumbai gallery is dedicated to the millions of people who have shaped it and for whom it is their destiny and future. Considered to be one of the fastest growing city of the world, a business centre and a city that has absorbed many cultures to create its own, Mumbai is a magical place, full of chances and struggles.
New research on Mumbai tells us that a Stone Age couple (man & woman) roamed here a million years ago and Buddha miraculously visited this land. The ancient king of India, Ashoka the Great (3rd century BCE) installed his public inscription here and raised a stupa to preserve Buddha’s relics (?). The art of rock-cut cave architecture came to prominence in the western part of India from the 2nd century BCE. The Kanheri caves, near Borivali (the north-western end of Mumbai), contain Buddhist sculptures and relief carvings, paintings, and inscriptions, dating from the 1st century CE to the 10th century CE. From the 5th century CE, Elephanta (Gharapuri island) gained prominence as the “Goddess Laxmi of the western sea”. The magnificent rock-cut temple structure is adorned with some of the finest stone sculptures in the world and has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. From the 8th century CE Mumbai became a very important port for the Arabs. A Gujrat Sultan sold Mumbai to the Portuguese in the 16th century, who in turn gifted it to the British who exploited the geographical location of the city to develop and create an infrastructure in the city for their benefit, resulting in a spinoff benefit for the city that developed into the metropolis that it is today.
The Gallery is divided into an orientation area dedicated to the Cultural History of Mumbai and a special exhibit on the People of Mumbai. Studded with historic, modern, contemporary and futuristic objects, the Mumbai Gallery promises to be a vibrant space for the present and the future. The gallery was conceived by Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director General of the CSMVS and shaped with the advice of a 19-member advisory committee with experts from different fields and faculties. It is hoped that the Mumbai gallery will become a platform for experimentation and presentation of new and historic themes around Mumbai. A specially created visual timeline on the history of Mumbai and its environs captures the many layers of Mumbai’s making, not just from the last centuries but for thousands of years right from the geological formation of the Deccan plateau to Mumbai becoming a business hum for Asia. Archaeological objects, coins, paintings, photographs, models, naval heritage, post cards, contemporary works of art, books, digital works of art, videos and anecdotes make the core of the gallery and should be seen again and again to absorb the multiple layers of history.
The People of Mumbai Exhibition
Mumbai represents the creativity, passion, resilience, commitment, flexibility, and courage of individuals who have gathered in this geographical location, over hundreds of years, to co-exist. The ‘People of Mumbai’ as a collective are the spirit of the city – they represent the idea of Mumbai. Built on the efforts, stories, dreams, and lives of this collective, the gallery celebrates the citizens of Mumbai, and their diversity. The individual narratives of the city, told by its people form the identity of Mumbaikars, – who they were, what they have become and what will be their collective future. The lives, joys and struggles of the inhabitants of Bombay, now Mumbai show how ‘people’ design a city by inhabiting space with their social and cultural moorings; their entrepreneurial aspirations and their struggles to survive and thrive. The People of Mumbai exhibition focuses on the histories, contributions, and lives of people through the geographic landscape, the early inhabitants, and the social, economic, and cultural evolution of the city over time. The exhibition has three sections – Mumbai as – a City of Opportunity, a City of Migrants, and a City of Cosmopolitanism. The Exhibition features of works of art from 16 lenders, artists and collectors capturing the essence of the city.