The Shri Pratap Singh Museum, commonly known as the SPS Museum, is a museum in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Established in 1898, the museum houses a collection of over 80,000 objects from various regions in

Northern India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

Description

History

In 1889, a proposal for the foundation of an archaeology museum in the Indian city of Srinagar was formulated by Amar Singh and S.H. Godmerry. Singh was an officer in the British Indian Army, while Godmerry was a scholar. The pair produced and submitted a

memorandum A memorandum ( : memoranda; abbr: memo; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered") is a written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviated "memo," these messages are usually brief and ...

Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Sir Pratap Singh (18 July 1848 – 23 September 1925) was the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, and head of the Jamwal Rajput clan. He was succeeded as Maharaja by his nephew, Hari Singh, in 1925. Succession Jammu and Kashmir was a s ...

, the ruler of Sringar and Amar's older brother. The Majarah accepted the proposal and agreed to allow for the establishment of a museum; this new institution would house artifacts from

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...

, Kashmir, Baltistan and Gilgit. The museum was to be located inside a state-owned building near the

Jhelum river The Jhelum River (/dʒʰeːləm/) is a river in the northern Indian subcontinent. It originates at Verinag and flows through the Indian administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir, to the Pakistani-administered territory of Kashmir, and then ...

. The establishment of the museum was overseen by John Marshal, a British archaeologist (and future director of the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexand ...

) who was renowned for his work in preserving the archaeological history of India. Srinagar's Accountant General, one Mr. Blerjee, was appointed as the first president of the museum; Blerjee was also tasked with recording a large collection of coins the museum added to its collection. The museum opened to the public in 1898, with its first collection consisting of items from Majarah Pratap's palace treasury. Following the re-organizational efforts of Indian archaeologist Daya Ram Sahni in 1913, the museum received objects recovered from archaeological excavations in Panderenthan, Parihaspora and Avantipura. The collection of the museum continued to grow through the donation of items by private collectors; many of these items were domestic or household in nature.''Valley’s lone museum opens to public''. The Tribune. 12 Jun 2017. URL. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/valley-s-lone-museum-opens-to-public/420829.html Retrieved 2018-11-16. In 2017, the museum finished constructing a second building. The new building was built to be fire and earthquake resistant, and is used to house some of the SPS's more popular exhibits. The older 19th-century building remains in use.

References

External links

SPS Museum Facebook pageArchived webpage of SPS Museum
{{authority control Museums in India Archaeological museums in India Srinagar