The Ambari archeological site in Guwahati. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Sept. 23: A traveller to Assam, who wishes to pack in more than he can afford in terms of time and money, will now find a unique itinerary planned by the state archaeological department.

The department is making a 240-minute documentary titled Monumental Heritage of Assam, which will give tourists an insight into the history of 96 state-protected archaeological sites and monuments spread across the state in the comfort of an auditorium.

Most tourists would find it difficult to pack in the 96 sites into their travel schedule. The documentary promises to be the one-stop solution.

“The tourists can get a glimpse of these archaeological sites from right here in Guwahati without visiting these places. The tourists who have time constraints in visiting all these places can get a fair idea about them by watching the documentary,” state archaeological engineer Sonaram Soud said.

He said the department is planning to start screening of the documentary, which is currently under production, for tourists from January next year at the 40-seater auditorium at the department’s tourist information centre at Ambari.

“The shows will be open for everybody and we will charge a nominal fee, which has not yet been fixed,” Soud said.

He said the project had been taken up by the department on the initiative of cultural affairs minister Bharat Chandra Narah. “The documentary will contain the video of all the sites and monuments with background narration about each of them,” he said.

Another official said the documentary would also be screened at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra as and when deemed necessary.

At the department’s own auditorium, the screening will be held all days of the week, barring the weekends for now.

There are around 340 known archaeological sites and monuments in Assam. Of them, 49 are under the protection of Archaeological Survey of India and another 94 under the protection of the state archaeology department.