Itumbaha Museum: A new era of reviving heritage or a cautionary tale for the impending chaos?
Itumbaha. Photo: Kamal Ratna Tuladhar for Wikimedia Commons One fine morning, some two years ago, Pragya Ratna Shakya received an email in his inbox that he was eagerly waiting for. Reading that, Shakya grew hopeful that the dream the locals had for almost two decades now will finally become a reality. The email was from Rubin Museum in the USA . Following that email, Shakya had numerous back and forth with the Rubin Museum, and the locals of Itumbahal finally inaugurated Itumbaha Museum on July 29. “In the early 1990s, the community had envisioned that there would be a museum in the locality. I was working at that time, but I had seen the elders of the community form a group to preserve the ancient and cultural artefacts for the museum. Now, we have made it public so that people can see and learn about our rich heritage,” says Shakya. While locals like Shakya are happy that their dream has finally become a reality, there are others who question if setting up a museum in a m...