Tribal museum

The Museum of Tribal Heritage at Bhopal was

commissioned by the Government of Madhya Pradesh
in 2004. The Museum is designed to create a built fabric
which the tribal communities could identify with,
extend, and evolve, to represent themselves and
express their own ideas and way of life with ease and
spontaneity. While the architecture of the Museum is
inspired by tribal rhythms, geometries, materials,
forms, aesthetics and spatial consciousness,
these very qualities are now acting as points of inspiration for the
display materials being created by tribal artisans, supported by anthropologists, sociologists and social workers.

Location:
Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum
Shyamala Hills, Bhopal 462002, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA.
Phone: +91 755 2661948, 2661640
Email: contact@mptribalmuseum.com,
mplokkala@rediffmail.com.

Structure:

Built on a site of seven acres, the galleries are raised above the
ground on columns, forming a continuous, multileveled veranda,
following the contours of the sloping, rocky terrain.
The structure is built of steel tubes, castellated girders, and
steel rods fabricated into intricate trusses.
Steel seemed to be a natural choice in the land & location of
ancient Iron Age & Bronze Age civilizations, and the
contemporary truck body building industry.
The roofs are made of half-round tiles, galvalume sheets and
concrete with a topping of grass and groundcover.

i beam
steel
tubes

Circulation:
After entering person has 2
choices whether to go to the
museum display or to the
warehouse.
After entering the main
museum circulation path has
been defined to make visitors
go to through the same
passage and experience the
whole museum.
A separate passage way has
been defined for the peoples
with the office related work.
Special care has been taken for
the movement of the
physically challenged visitors.

 A central area for seating for the fatigue.

Central area was created around
the small manmade lake with ducks. Making the view quite relaxing.

Requirements of tribal museum:

1. Parking
3. Reception
5. Administration
Open air theatre

2. Service entry
4. Shop
6.

7. Exhibition area

8. Washrooms

9. Water facility

10. Open air courtyard

Materials of

building:

Walls were made up of local stone left exposed.

Other walls were made up of brick plastered
with crushed stone on the outside and mud plaster on the inside.
The roofs are made of half-round tiles, galvalume sheets and
concrete with a topping of grass and groundcover.
The plant material is composed of largely local forest species.
The landscape is designed to collect and store rain water,
to be used for both cooling and irrigating the green roof, and gardens.

Display:

Best thing about the tribal museum, Bhopal was

its way of displaying tribes and different cultures.
People can actually touch the sculptures. They can
feel the material. All the sculptures and other
show casing things were created by the tribal
people themselves using the basic and old
techniques.
As there were no rare things in displays, so there
was no requirement of the conservation lab.
Instead of conservation lab there was a warehouse
made for the restoration of the displays and the
sculptures. Large and bigger halls provide the
Sufficient space to display big things and yet making the
Circulation easy
The gallery has been divided into 4 parts:
Gallery 1:- The gallery showcases cultural diversity
of the state. The gallery has been arranged so that
all-encompassing culture of Madhya Pradesh
emerges before visitors automatically. A huge tree
is shown in the midst of map of Madhya Pradesh.
Below the map, geographical presence of all major
tribal clans of Madhya Pradesh has been displayed
through significant symbols.
Gallery 2:- Tribal lifestyle has been displayed in this
gallery. Here a huge food grain container has been re-constructed. Information about diverse aspects of tribal
life has been given through ultramodern methods. Changes witnessed in tribal dwellings during last 5 to 7
decades have also been displayed.

Gallery 3:- This is aesthetics gallery where tribal cosmetics have

been displayed apart from phases of tribal life, rituals, festive songs
pertaining to festivals and auspicious occasions etc. There is a
marriage canopy in the midst of the gallery. Effort has been made to
personify events pertaining to seasons and agriculture, ballets,
attires and elegance.
Gallery 4:- This gallery has been presented like a Dev Lok. It has
been decorated with twinkling stars and constellations. Apart from
deities of states Gods and Goddesses, Lingo Dev ki Gudi and
Madiya Kham etc. of Bastar have also been displayed in it. Other
exhibits include Malwi Mata ki Gudi, Sheetla Mata ka Sthan, Ghotul,
Karmaseni tree and a street in which potter, waterman, blacksmith,
gold smiths houses and tools have been displayed.