The Centenary Exhibition gallery at Patna Museum, which was inaugurated on Friday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, Feb. 17: Visitors to Patna Museum can now catch a glimpse of the history of the state through photographs.

The Centenary Exhibition and the Bihar Museum galleries were inaugurated for public at the museum today.

Minister of department of art, culture and youth affairs Sukhda Pandey inaugurated the galleries at Patna Museum. The museum authorities have developed the Centenary Exhibition gallery over a period of four months. This gallery showcases the rich history of the state over the past 100 years through photographs of historical monuments, events and the eminent personalities such as Sachidanand Sinha and Maulana Mazharul Haque.

The Bihar Museum gallery showcases five models, including the one selected for the proposed international museum prepared by the shortlisted firms along with detailed designs for each model for the final architect selection process, which was held in 2011.

Pandey praised the museum authorities for organising the galleries.

“The exhibition galleries developed by Patna Museum is a very good initiative. It would provide an opportunity to the people of the state, especially the youths, to connect to their roots. The centenary gallery shows an amalgamation of the rich culture, tradition, history and achievements of the state in the past 100 years. Our department is equally enthusiastic about the development of the Bihar Museum, which together with the existing museum, will set a landmark in this region,” Pandey said, adding that these were among various other initiatives, are being taken by the department ahead of the centenary year celebrations.

The exhibits include photographs on Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran movement, the historical monuments such as the tomb of Sher Shah at Sasaram, ruins of the erstwhile Nalanda International University, pre- and post-Independence stamps, administrative establishments such as the state secretariat, Raj Bhavan and the Legislative Assembly.

JPN Singh, the additional director of Patna Museum, told The Telegraph: “We have tried to showcase the landmark events and the people behind the development of the state during the past 100 years in the centenary gallery by using over 100 photographs, to go with the descriptions.”

Visitors were upbeat about the new initiatives. “The galleries are highly informative and one can get to know a lot about the state from them. The descriptions to go with the photographs make things simpler,” said Swarna, a third-year student of Govern- ment Women’s Polytechnic College, Patna.