Bhubaneswar, Dec. 1: The state culture department has requested the general administration to allot 50 acres at Gothapatna for a world-class museum project that will include a modern art gallery for displaying contemporary art and other exhibits.

The new facility has become necessary as the Odisha State Museum near Kalpana Square is too small to hold the artefacts collected from various parts of the state.

The state museum, a treasure house of Odisha’s rich art and cultural heritage, boasts of a collection of 56,357 artefacts displayed in 18 galleries. However, its 14.7-acre premises with a built-up area of 1,12,444sqft is set to lose 13,527sqft to a modern art gallery project conceived by the state government.

At present, the Samskruti Bhavan (directorate of culture), Bhanja Kala Mandap auditorium, Odishan Institute of Maritime and Southeast Asian Studies and a judo hall are sharing the land allotted by the government to the state museum.

Director of the culture department Sushil Kumar Das said: “We want an open space with modern amenities to showcase the state’s art and archaeological treasures.”

Das said a new museum would also help focus on the state’s Buddhist past. “Ancient Kalinga was a major centre of Buddhist learning, especially Tantric Buddhism. Historians also believe that Kalinga had considerable interaction with the Tibetan Tantric Buddhism schools,’’ he said.