The Ministry of Culture, Government of India, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Google Arts & Culture to bring India’s cultural heritage to the public through cutting-edge digital tools. The MoU was signed at a virtual ceremony in the presence of Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, and Mr Amit Sood, Vice President and Founder, Google Arts & Culture.
The partnership will reflect the civilisational breadth of India: the monuments and archaeological sites protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and the collections they hold, the holdings of the national museums, the manuscript heritage being documented under Gyan Bharatam, and the crafts, performing arts and living traditions sustained by the Ministry’s institutions across the country.
At its centre is the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, taking shape in the North and South Blocks of New Delhi as a museum of India’s history across the ages. Its digitisation will create a lasting record of the buildings and the wealth of artefacts they will house, and offer the public an early window onto one of the most significant cultural undertakings of our time.
The MoU is part of the Ministry’s wider effort to strengthen accessibility and expand its digital initiatives, so that India’s heritage can be explored in Indian languages and on any device. It reflects a whole-of-Ministry approach in which preservation, public access and the growth of India’s creative economy advance together, drawing on institutions of every scale and partners from across sectors.
Commenting on the partnership, Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, said: “India’s cultural heritage is a living inheritance. It belongs to every citizen and speaks to the whole world. Our partnership with Google Arts & Culture brings technology to bear on documenting, preserving and sharing that inheritance, from our ancient manuscripts and monuments to the collections of our national museums and the upcoming Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum. By making these treasures available in Indian languages and to audiences across the globe, we hope to bring more people closer to the story of Indian civilisation, and to safeguard it for generations to come.”
Google Arts & Culture has had a long association with the Ministry’s institutions, including the Archaeological Survey of India, the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art, whose collections it has helped bring to wider audiences over the years.
Mr Amit Sood, Vice President and Founder, Google Arts & Culture, said: “For the past 15 years, Google Arts & Culture has been deeply inspired by India’s millennia of storytelling, artistic mastery and vast heritage. Our partnership with the Ministry of Culture represents a shared commitment to preserve India’s timeless treasures with the help of cutting-edge technologies. Whether supporting the vision for the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum or preserving historic manuscripts, we are honoured to deploy our technologies to bridge ancient heritage with modern accessibility, making these collections freely discoverable to educate, inspire, and delight curious minds everywhere.”
The MoU reaffirms the Ministry’s commitment to preserving India’s civilisational heritage, championing its creative economy through enduring partnerships, and sharing its culture with the widest possible networks at home and across the world.