Indian Museum plans to celebrate 200th year of discovery of Ajanta paintings

The Indian Museum has recently decided to celebrate 200 years of the discovery of Ajanta paintings. Lectures and symposiums will be arranged in the coming month of July to celebrate this occasion. According to the Museum administration, the main motive behind this celebration is to come up with better ways and discuss the ways to conserve this heritage paintings and to make people aware of it. The Director of Indian Museum, Rajesh Purohit said, "Ajanta paintings have had a major influence upon the Bengal School of Art. Sister Nivedita, Nandalal Bose, Abanindranath Tagore, E.B. Havell, Asit Kumar Halder are some of the big names who have been influenced by the Ajanta paintings. How Calcutta is connected with Ajanta will also be the highlight of the discussion". "A number of paintings were destroyed and in 1863 the Archaeological Survey of India studied the paintings and did necessary treatment for restoration of the paintings which are actually tempera paintings", he added. The Ajanta Caves situated in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra are approximately 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date back to the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE. The caves exhibit paintings and rock-cut sculptures which are perhaps the finest existing examples of ancient Indian art. It was discovered by a British officer named John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry while hunting tigers in 1819. Ajanta is currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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