Learning From My Experience and Giving Back - Building More Museums in India

I had been living in the US for the last 3.5 years, and one big hallmark of this tenure is that I had been visiting a number of museums. In my inclination to learn more about the country, its history, places and people, various societal features including arts, science, culture, other elements and to make good use of free time, I am visiting museums of the places that I had been living in and visiting. It is giving me a good time to learn about things outside of my work and live in touch with outside world. When you don’t have much inquisitive interaction with citizens of the land, you tend to replace the space by learning from these museums. As I live in my cocoon, I don’t have much connections anyway which makes these museums the best option to interact with the country. The big advantage is there are host of these places all over the land which proved to be extremely useful for my cause. When you want some avenue to get yourself occupied and spend time productively when visiting other places or on trips, these places come to the mind immediately. A visit to a museum is a search for beauty, truth in the land, and to add a bit more perspective, meaning in our lives. 

In the last 3.5 years, I visited around 40 museums which is a high number to my own reckoning. I must have visited a quarter of those in Chicago, a powerhouse of museums. Chicago is a city where culture, science, history and art collide in spectacular fashion bringing together a range of museums born out of this sheer backdrop. Chicago boasts over 67 museums across every imaginable category—from world-class art institutions to niche collections across diverse areas. I must be extremely fortunate to live here during the past few years when I don’t have much on my to-do list otherwise. Not just Chicago, during my weekend trips to nearby places, I spend most of my travel time visiting one or the other museum. During my getaways to Milwaukee, St.Louis, Indianapolis, Springfield, Bloomington, Rockford, Wisconsin Dells, Detroit, Kalamazoo, San Jose I spend time learning from these museums Hence, it is not just Chicago but most of the places I visited have these set-up which provided an important avenue for a small person like me to march on. It is a feature of most of the developed cities across the world to built these museums in 10s, 50s and 100s to cater to the like minded population. For instance, Paris, Moscow, Los Angeles, New York and Seoul has more than 200 museums each. The museums increase livability, and we can easily live for a decade in each of these cities. 

When I am spending the weekend after a hard week visiting museums in a number of places, there has to be purpose and meaning behind it. Otherwise it will be a futile effort. My experience visiting 40 places in multiple cities across US should come good if I plan to setup a museum back in India. I don’t have any funds but I can atleast think along similar lines. To bring a great museum to crores of young population back in India will be a good venture after my experience in US. If I am empowered with funds I will dedicate myself for this one cause. Against this backdrop, I will evaluate the museum landscape in US and India and come up with argument why India need to cover a lot of ground in this space. 

To think about the huge gap in this space in India, I will give one example. If Chicago, with a population of 96 lakhs has 67 museums, then how many Hyderabad with a population of 1.13 crore have. The answer is less than 5 and I knew just one among those – the famous Salar Jung museum. These are relegated to old city and the recent developed part doesn’t even consider to host one great museum. This can be a huge catching up to do if we want to learn, educate and empower our young population. Not just this, as mentioned it increases the livability coefficient of finer India. If given a chance with the required resources, persons like me can be invaluable in this space. I am telling this wholeheartedly after spending time for 40 hard weeks visiting these places. 

Museums are often described as living classrooms—repositories of history, culture, science, and imagination where both the young and old can learn, reflect, and be inspired. In a country as ancient and diverse as India, the need for more museums is not simply cultural—it is educational, social, and even economic. Yet, India lags far behind the developed world in the number and accessibility of museums. 

The U.S. is home to over 35,000 museums, according to estimates by the American Alliance of Museums. These range from world-class institutions to small community museums that preserve local stories, traditions, and innovations. Almost every city, and even many small towns, host a museum of some kind. By comparison, India has just around 1,200 officially recognized museums, according to the Ministry of Culture. Even if one includes small, regional or privately run institutions, the number falls far short of what a nation of 1.4 billion people and thousands of years of civilization ought to have. If the United States, with a population of around 330 million, can sustain tens of thousands of museums, then India—with more than four times the population and an even richer span of recorded history—could easily aspire to at least 10,000 quality museums over the next two decades. It can inferred we need to build and preserve at least 9000 more museums in India in the next few decades of rise. This will still be not adequate considering the range, scope and breadth of the country but can be a good start. 

Let us learn from US. With thousands of museums built in just two centuries, the U.S. has more museums than Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. This is not a coincidence—it is the outcome of a deliberate idea, rooted in democracy, education, and identity. The American experiment was founded on the belief that citizens should be educated, informed, and engaged. Museums became an extension of this philosophy. From the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.—called “the nation’s attic”—to small local museums, the idea was to make knowledge accessible to everyone, not just to elites or academics. Every museum, whether of art, science, or local history, was seen as a public classroom. The rationale behind this was simple: a self-governing democracy needs informed citizens, and museums help nurture them.  

The museum establishment movement in US was a museum in itself. James Smithson, an English scientist, left his fortune to the United States in 1826 “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” His bequest led to the founding of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. in 1846, which became the world’s largest museum and research complex. The Smithsonian set the tone for public, accessible museums as national treasures, inspiring countless others. During the Progressive Era, American leaders pushed for public education, civic reform, and cultural upliftment. Thinkers like John Dewey (philosopher of education) argued that learning should be experiential, which aligned perfectly with the museum model. Local governments and philanthropists began supporting children’s museums, science centers, and natural history museums as “schools outside schools.” Wealthy industrialists saw museums as a way to give back to society and civilize public taste. America’s decision to establish thousands of museums was never just about preserving objects—it was about building an informed society, strengthening communities, and shaping a shared identity. That is why museums dot its landscape so densely, from major cities to small rural towns. 

Learning from this and interpreting it in home nation, India is not just a country; it is a civilization and cultural hotbed. Its story stretches back more than 5,000 years—from the planned cities of the Indus Valley, through the golden age of the Guptas, the artistry of the Cholas, the scholarship of Nalanda, the spiritual revolutions of Buddha and Mahavira, the intellectual vigor of the Mughals, and the bravery of countless freedom fighters. To walk through India’s past is to journey through a vast, layered mosaic of human endeavor. This grand culture, history, and diversity is the inheritance of every Indian. Yet, much of it is hidden away in archives, temples, forts, and private collections—fragmented and inaccessible. Museums can change this. By building many more museums across India, each rooted in local stories, we can preserve, interpret, and celebrate this wealth for future generations. 

India’s diversity is its defining trait. From the folk traditions of Rajasthan to the dance forms of Kerala, from the textile heritage of Gujarat to the tribal art of Bastar, every region is a world in itself. Over 19,500 languages and dialects spoken across the land, each carrying poetry, songs, and oral traditions. The nation is birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, alongside vibrant Islamic, Christian, and Zoroastrian legacies. From Banarasi silk to Kanchipuram sarees, Bidri metalwork to Kashmiri carpets—living traditions that still sustain millions of artisans are spread across the land. Each of these deserves not just one museum, but many—local museums that tell local stories, so people can see their own culture respected, documented, and passed on. 

India’s artifacts—ancient manuscripts, textiles, tools, sculptures—are highly vulnerable to decay and loss. Museums provide controlled environments to preserve them. Without this, centuries of memory could disappear silently. A tribal child in Nagaland should not have to travel to Delhi to see their ancestors’ traditions displayed. Local museums create pride in identity, while also inviting visitors from elsewhere to appreciate India’s cultural pluralism. Museums are experiential. Seeing Ashokan inscriptions, Indus Valley seals, or Gandhi’s letters in person has a transformative impact on students—far stronger than reading about them in a classroom. Global travelers are drawn not just to monuments, but also to museums that contextualize them. A network of regional museums can turn small towns into cultural hubs, boosting economies while conserving heritage. Museums allow elders to share cultural memory with the young in meaningful ways. They become community spaces where traditions are not only displayed but also lived, discussed, and renewed. 

India can aspire to a future where every state capital houses a grand museum of its history, art, and science. Every district headquarters has at least one regional museum—be it of textiles, tribal art, freedom movements, or local ecology. Specialized museums thrive—like a museum of Ayurveda in Kerala, a museum of astronomy in Gujarat, a museum of Buddhist heritage in Bihar, or a museum of maritime trade in Odisha. Interactive science and innovation centers stand alongside history museums, reminding citizens that India’s story is not only ancient but also forward-looking. If the United States, with a population of about 330 million, can sustain over 35,000 museums, India—with its 1.4 billion people and unmatched cultural diversity—can surely envision 10,000–15,000 museums spread across its vast landscape. 

India’s greatness lies not in a single tradition but in its plurality—its ability to hold countless cultures, languages, religions, and art forms together in one civilizational arc. To preserve this richness for generations to come, India must commit to building and nurturing many more museums. Each museum, whether in a bustling city or a remote village, would serve as a beacon of memory and imagination—a place where young Indians learn pride in their roots, where older generations find resonance, and where visitors from across the world see the unfolding of one of humanity’s grandest stories. The time has come to honor India’s past and invest in its cultural future—through the power of museums.