Museum on Wheels

If you cannot come to the Museum, the Museum will come to you

About Citi-CSMVS Museum on Wheels

The Citi-CSMVS Museum on Wheels is a pioneering outreach initiative designed to reach audiences beyond the walls of the Museum, into the far-reaching parts of suburban Mumbai and further into the interiors of the state of Maharashtra and beyond. This initiative is an extension of the Museum’s mandate to be inclusive and to provide universal access, physical as well as intellectual, to the Museum collection and the information it seeks to convey.
The project has two large, air-conditioned, state-of-the-art buses, custom designed to house travelling exhibitions. The exhibition themes are selected keeping in mind school curricula and draws from the CSMVS’ vast collection of antiquities. These mobile exhibitions are taken to various educational and cultural institutions for deeper and wider engagement with heritage, arts and sciences. The Buses are fully equipped with display cases for objects, replicas, models and dioramas. Audio-visual equipment and digital media including touch screens and tablets further engage this generation of tech-savvy children. At the same time, interactive demo-kits, art and craft activities get children working with their hands, thus offering them a holistic learning experience.

The Citi-CSMVS Museum on Wheels has been the platform for several institutional collaborations, including partnerships with key educational and cultural institutions such as Teach for India, National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Nrityanjali, the Kendriya Vidyalaya group of institutions, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai and the Rotary Club.

Citi-CSMVS has now added a second bus to this successful initiative and the programme will now be expanding its impact and geographic reach through strategic collaborations and partnerships with educational, scientific and cultural institutions, to delight young minds, particularly in the remote districts of Maharashtra and neighbouring states of Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka and Telangana.

The Museum on Wheels initiative is supported by our partners Citi India.

View and download the brochures

Objectives and Activities

The Museum on Wheels aims to:

  • Create an appreciation of heritage and culture.
  • Establish a connection between heritage of the past and its relevance in present-day society.
  • Offer a well-balanced experience of tradition and modernity with hands-on interactive activities as well as digital experiences.
  • Encouraging active participation of local communities with heritage and culture.
  • Be inclusive, diverse and widespread in its reach to as many sections of the city (and beyond) as possible for whom it is difficult to access the Museum and its offerings.

Current Exhibitions

View and download the brochures

Past Exhibitions

Centenary Exhibition – 100 YEARS of CSMVS

In-Tune: The Journey from Sound to Music

Fossils: Impressions of the Past

Barter to Banking – The History of Indian Money

India and the World

As it happened: Sources of studying history

The Great Indian Toy Story

The Magic Workers of Harappa

Think Museum Project

The Think Museums Project is an extension of the Citi-CSMVS Museums on Wheels project. It takes the idea of outreach a step further by enabling schools to create and host museum-like exhibitions for learning and knowledge sharing. Through this initiative students have interacted with the museum team to come up with their own exhibition ideas and to create their own exhibitions. Curating a physical exhibition amidst the pandemic was difficult. Hence, with the use of 3D images of the objects an online exhibition is presented. The project gives students a small purview into the aspects of curating an exhibition.

Why Think Museum?

  • The project will enable the students to engage with the arts and material culture at a deeper, more dynamic level.
  • Students will create a ‘Museum Corner’ in their school through an alternate learning experience.
  • The collection provided by CSMVS, spans diverse themes and connects with essential modules of the school syllabus.
  • Students will be introduced to practices of basic museology and exhibition curation, planning and management.
  • The project will enhance students’ skills of planning, teamwork and presenting new and exciting ideas.
  • Sensitising students to the need and role of Museums in today’s society.

Booking Visit

What happens when the Bus is in our neighbourhood?

It’s gala time! You can visit the exhibition, participate in workshops and enjoy fun activities such as storytelling, films and craft!

The Museum will organise fun educational activities and workshops around the exhibition inside the Bus. There will be events that offer opportunities for artists and performers within the area to participate and showcase their talent.

Do we need any special requirements for the Bus to be stationed at our facility?

The Bus needs a parking space, preferably within campus. For workshops and activities, a small space will be required for about 25-30 persons. For film screenings, we will need a space for projection and power plugs.

How do we make a booking for the Museum on Wheels?

Step 1. Fill out the booking form that comes with our brochure or write to us at mow@csmvs.in and put in a request for a visit.

Step 2. Our Education Team will meet with you to do a recce of the venue and understand your requirements. You can help us plan our itinerary by contacting other schools or organisations in your neighbourhood so that they may also take benefit of the Bus being in their locality.

Step 3. A plan of events will be prepared.

Step 4. The Museum on Wheels arrives at your doorstep!

Booking Instructions

We plan our schedule well in advance so that visits proceed smoothly and are enjoyable for everyone. Bookings must be made at least 4 weeks in advance. Bookings will be taken on a first-come-first serve basis. Please ensure that we are notified of any changes at least five working days in advance.

The exhibition and activities are free of charge. Some of the workshops may have a small fee.

For booking of or enquiries about the bus please contact the Education Officer at mow@csmvs.in or you can call us on 2269584400.
Click the link for booking a visit –   Visit booking form

In case of cancellations, the Museum must be informed as early as possible. Future re-booking will depend on the availability of the Bus.