Bhubaneswar, Dec. 29: The Odisha State Museum turned 55 today.

Various exhibitions and events were held to mark the occasion.

The proposal to set up a world-class museum at Gothapatna on the outskirts of the state capital was also made.

Director of the culture department, Sushil Das, said: “A proposal has been send to general administration department for a museum with state-of-art infrastructure. We have asked for 50 acres for the campus.”

The state does not have a single museum that can be considered at par with top museums of other states.

A plan for the renovation of certain existing galleries was also announced.

Museum superintendent Manjushree Samantray said museums had become a part of our life and the old artefacts reassure our identity.

“There are various kinds of museums coming up.

“The government should introduce a museum tour package across the state,” she said, adding that the proposed campus should rotate the displayed items on a thematic basis and a new gallery be created at the existing museum, dedicated to Kabichandra Kalicharan Patnaik.

Last year too, the setting up of four new galleries, namely ‘Odisha through ages’, ‘Evolution of Man’, ‘Patta paintings’ and ‘Freedom fighters’, was announced.

These will be opened at the Golden Jubilee complex of the museum. At present, the museum has 10 galleries.

At today’s celebrations, three photography exhibitions on tribal lifestyle, restored heritage of the state and the Indo-Pak war of 1965 adorned the walls of the museum.

The origin of the museum goes back to 1932 when historians Professor Nirmal Banerjee and Professor Ghanshyam Dash of Ravenshaw College, Cuttack (now University), started collecting archaeological artefacts from various places and created a small museum that was build on the premises of the college.