Red Fort of MMC restored as museum
Posted on: 01/Aug/2018 11:22:07 AM
Red fort building, the 121 year old heritage at the premises of Madras Medical College will be redesigned as museum for maintaining the historical glory and monumental symbol of Chennai city. The building will be renovated and preserved as a heritage monument with the allocation of a planned budget said the officials of State government.
Red fort in MMC was constructed in the year 1897 with the classic red brick structure of British government. In the account of heritage structures the building was classified as Grade I heritage by the Justice E. Padmanaban committee. The building was operated as the department of Anatomy for many decades.
R.Jayanthi, Dean of MMC and Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital informed the press about the renovation process of the red fort building to transform it to a museum for school students and colleges exhibiting the cultural and historical importance of the building.
In the year 2013 the Anatomy department partially moved to another MMC campus built around the old central prison premises. The state government sanctioned Rs 1.97 crore to restore the red fort building to its original glory. In December 2017 PWD started the renovation process. After the restoration work the conversion of museum will begin correlated with the plans to exhibit. The ground floor will show the historical evidences and articles related to the red fort building and the first floor will accommodate specimens for comparative anatomy.
Many specimens of the anatomy department were already moved to the new campus of MMC but some of the huge animal skeletons will be placed in the ref fort building first floor that were included as a part of the planned museum.
The officials of Madras Medical College reported their involvement in collecting some of the historical tracings related to the building to showcase in the museum. The building will also exhibit the life history of many renowned alumni praising their contribution. Some of the oldest equipment of the anatomy department will be showcased in the museum.
The sliding panels in the ceiling are adjusted for the new incorporated lighting arrangement. PWD officials reported the 90 percent completion of the restoration work. The cracks in the terrace will be repaired with a traditional approach of mixing lime mortar, filter sand, Kadukkai and Palm Jaggery. After 15 days of soaking in the mixture the cracks gets restored and the kind of approach is followed to avoid the destruction of the old essence and theme of the red fort.
